Situations Change
by Ketsui Tasogare
Summary: Just another high school fanfiction with a hell of a lot of drama and all the combinations: Sasusaku, Nejiten, Naruhina and Shikaino.
1. Chapter 1

_Situations Change_

Just another high school fanfiction with a hell of a lot of drama and all the combinations: Sasusaku, Nejiten, Naruhina and Shikaino

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

 **Chapter 1: Back to School**

The dreaded day that Sakura had circled on her calendar had arrived. Time to return to boarding school—not that she didn't enjoy school, she just had trouble waking up early. She hauled her body out of bed and went to the shower; she stood in place and let the hot water wash the sleep from her body.

Ten minutes later she walked back into her bedroom and went straight to her closet to get her uniform. She got dressed in her long sleeved white school shirt, cobalt blue A-line six panel skirt; black stockings, black leather Mary-Jane's; a cobalt blue tie and a black blazer. She then brushed her hair; picked up her backpack then went downstairs for breakfast. She listened to the radio while eating her cereal; the weather forecast predicted that the snow would come down tomorrow but clear blue skies for that day.

Twenty minutes later a car hooted outside; Sakura left the house and headed to the car. She opened the passenger seat door to the black Mercedes and sat next to Sasuke at the wheel; looking neat and put together as usual in his school uniform and greeted Naruto in the back seat. She delighted at feeling the heater warm her up.

"Aw man I can't believe we have to go back to school." Naruto whined from the back seat

"That's the fifth time you've said that; just get over it already you loser." Sasuke spoke up

"Yeah Naruto it's just school. I'm actually kind of glad to be going back." Naruto just sighed and looked out the window as Sasuke started the car and drove off towards the school

Xxx

The trio stepped out of Sasuke's car and walked towards the familiar school building now blanketed in snow.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura watched as two more cars pulled up; a grey BMW which consisted of Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara as well as A Silver Audi which consisted of Neji Hyuuga, Tenten and Hinata Hyuuga. All of them came out of their respective vehicles with the same overall attitude: why are the holidays over. The girls greeted each other while the guys exchanged looks amongst themselves as they entered the not missed halls of their boarding school, luggage in hand.

The dynamics of the school were as follows: girls and guys were separated of course; girls on the east side and guys on the west. The classrooms were found along the middle sections as well as the cafeteria. There was a ten o clock curfew or at least you had to be at your respective side of the school by ten o clock. Each dorm housed four people but the arrangement of the beds, study desks and bathrooms varied from room to room.

The girls and guys separated and went in their opposite directions to their rooms. Sakura pulled out the card to her, Ino, Hinata and Tenten's room they shared. As soon as she swiped the card the door unlocked and they all stepped into the bare room stripped of all its decorations and bed coverings.

"Well we're back; we better start unpacking our things. At least classes only start tomorrow morning." Said Sakura relieved as she set down her suitcase at the base of her bed.

"So what do you guys want to do seeing that we have literally the entire day off?" Said Ino

"Well Neji and I are going to that new café in town; you guys should come too." Came Tenten

"Oh no we wouldn't want to crowd you too." Ino said in a suggestive way with a sneaky grin on her face

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tenten raised a brow

"I'm just saying you and Neji spend a lot of time together. And if I didn't know better I'd think that you like him. I mean the two of you alone with no one else around, who knows what you two get up to?" she smirked at Tenten

"I don't like him that way, Neji and I are just good friends. You make it sound like we have some dirty secret between us or something."

"Hey if the shoe fits; don't you think they do something wild when no one else is around Hinata?"

"I can't imagine my cousin doing anything like that Ino." Hinata replied

"So getting back to the original question; what are you guys going to do today?" asked Tenten

"Oh I'm sure we'll think of something." Ino winked at Sakura who nodded in agreement

"Okay then I'll see you guys later." Said Tenten as she headed to the door and left.

Sakura and Ino smirked at each other than walked over to Hinata to let her in on the plan.

"You want to follow them don't you?" Hinata said as she looked from Ino to Sakura. They both looked at her surprised; she'd figured out the plan without them having to tell her

"You catch on fast Hinata."

Meanwhile at the guys' dorm…

"Where are you going Hyuuga?" Sasuke plainly asked

"I'm meeting Tenten downstairs." Neji replied

"Spending time with your girl huh?" Sasuke smirked

"Tenten and I are not an item nor do we intend on becoming one." he explained

"There's no need to be ashamed Hyuuga, I mean she is a great girl and she's attractive wouldn't you agree?" Sasuke set his trap well

"Of course she is but—

Neji caught on to Sasuke's trick a little too late. Sasuke and the other occupants of the room; namely Shikamaru and Naruto looked amused as Neji rolled his eyes at them before leaving without another word.

Tenten was waiting at the entrance when she looked up to see Neji descending the stairs and stopping in front of her.

"Ready to go?" she asked

He nodded his head as they walked to his car. They both got in; Neji at the driver's seat and Tenten in the passenger's seat. Tenten noticed that Neji had been awfully quiet the entire way to the cafe; she had a talent for asking just the right question to figure out what was going on.

"They asked you about us being a couple didn't they?" she smiled at him

"Yeah"

"Typical; I guess they're all thinking the same thing. Well never mind that now; let's go inside and get something warm to drink." They both got out of the car and quickly went inside to get away from the cold.

Xxx

"Okay everyone ready to go?" Sakura asked

"How are we supposed to get there?" Hinata asked

"We can take my car. My mom brought it here before I arrived this morning with Shikamaru." She said as she pulled out her car keys. They left their room and went downstairs to the car park. They all hopped into Ino's white convertible Chevrolet and drove off into town. They pulled up in one of the parking spots close to the entrance.

"There they are; good thing these windows are tinted. This is the perfect spot to spy on them." Sakura spoke up

"Alright you two keep an eye on them and I'll go get us something to eat." Ino said as she took off her seat belt.

"Are you crazy if you walk in there they'll see you for sure." Hinata said in a panicked voice

"No they won't look how far they're sitting from the cashier. I won't be long." She got out of the car and went inside to order. Hinata and Sakura were watching Tenten and Neji like they were watching a movie.

A few minutes later Ino returned with a tray of hot chocolate and a box of doughnuts.

"So how's it going?" she asked as she passed the doughnuts around

"They're having a great time. They really look like a couple to me, I mean just look at them. They're talking and smiling, it just looks so natural." Sakura commented

The three girls ate their doughnuts and drank their hot chocolate in silence until something got their attention.

"Hey it looks like they're leaving." Said Hinata

"But it's only half past nine. They can't be going back to school; looks like we're going where ever they are." Ino started the car and slowly followed Neji's car. They were on the road for about ten minutes before they stopped again. They were at the park.

"This is perfect now we can get out of the car and try listen to what they're saying."

"Ino we'd stick out right away. We're the only ones except for Tenten wearing our school uniform. Plus it's freezing outside and we didn't bring our winter coats." Sakura complained

"Stop worrying so much Sakura we can blend in with the snow and as for the cold just suck it up. We need to find out what's going on between those two." Ino replied

"It's official you've gone crazy. Hey check it out they're sitting in a gazebo by the lake." Sakura pointed out

"Perfect I'm going in. You two stay here." Ino left the car and headed to where Tenten and Neji were also while trying to stay hidden. She was just outside the gazebo; she crouched down and leaned against the wall to hear what they were saying. But Ino accidentally snapped a twig under her foot; she immediately held her breath hoping they wouldn't find her.

"What's the matter Tenten?" Neji asked

"Nothing, I just thought I heard something. Anyway I can't wait for our date on Friday; I've always wanted to go to that restaurant…

" _I knew there was something between them."_ Ino said in her head. She quickly peeped over the railing to see Neji's arm around Tenten's shoulder. Ino's eyes widened in surprise; if she stayed any longer she'd risk being discovered so she decided to go back to the car and report back to the others.

"That should keep them busy for a while." Tenten smirked

"Do you really think she fell for it Tenten?" Neji asked

"Without a doubt Neji; that was the whole reason that they followed us. They wanted to find out anything that would give us away as a couple when we really aren't . Now that they have what they wanted they'll leave us alone." She replied "C'mon lets go."

"Where to?" he asked

"Just for a drive around town, but this time I get to drive." She looked at him pleadingly

"I'm not letting you drive my car." He smirked at her

"That's okay I already took your keys." She smiled at him then ran towards the car. Neji immediately chased after her. She then detoured and ran around the fountain in the middle of the park. Tenten was laughing and running at the same time then she made a brake for the car but she tripped on her way. Luckily she was cushioned by the snow. Neji caught up to her and held out his hand to help her up. She took his hand then pulled him down into the snow. She smiled at him and held on to his car keys even tighter.

"Can I please have my keys back?" he asked

"Can I please drive your car?"

"Clearly you won't let me say _no_ so yes you can drive." He stood up and held out his hand to help her up. She took his hand and stood up. They walked back to the car together. A cold breeze picked up which affected the young pair since they got wet when they were in the snow. Tenten put her arms around herself to try and keep warm then she felt something over her shoulders. It was Neji's blazer.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked as she slid her arms into his sleeves.

"I'll be fine were almost at the car anyways." He replied

They arrived at the car and Tenten climbed in the driver's seat; started the car and drove off.

Xxx

Tenten pulled up in the school parking space reserved for his car—privileges of being a Hyuuga—and gave back his keys.

"See that was fun. I'm a great a great driver." She smiled proudly

"I had no doubt about that" Tenten looked at him with complete shock on her face

"Then why didn't you want me to drive your car, as if you had some legit reason?"

"I just enjoy toying with you" he smirked at her earning him an irritated look from Tenten. If there was one thing Neji really enjoyed it was messing with her.

They both climbed out of the car and headed back inside the school.

"See you later Neji." She smiled at him before they went their separate ways.

Tenten went upstairs towards her room when she was stopped by someone behind her. A girl Tenten was all too familiar with. She had long blonde hair and honey-golden eyes and was the biggest and most annoying of all of Neji's fangirls. Her skirt was rolled up to the point of being a micro-mini skirt not to mention the layers of make-up she wore as well as her school shirt being unbuttoned to the point of showing some cleavage.

"Ah Naoya Imamura; something I can help you with?" she arrogantly asked

"Oh no I just came to talk Tenten. I heard you went on a date with _my_ Neji and I'm not too happy about that."

"First of all you heard wrong we weren't on a date we're just friends and secondly he isn't yours, you don't own him."

"Of course you're just friends why would he go for a plain-Jane like you when he could have me instead."

"I don't think that Neji would go for someone as trashy as you Naoya." She folded her arms

"Whatever Tenten just stay away from Neji or else you'll regret it."

"Oh yeah like I have any reason to fear you." she rolled her eyes and walked away.

Tenten walked into her room to find her friends staring at her with amused faces. She just rolled her eyes at them as she went straight to her bed.

"So Tenten I hear you and Neji are going on a date. I knew you two were a couple." Ino squealed

"You got it all wrong Ino; Neji and I set that up because we knew you guys were following us. We just made up the part about going on a date because we knew you would listen in on our conversation and he put his arm around me to make sure you fell for it."

"How long did you know we were there?" she asked disappointedly

"Pretty much when you pulled up in front of the cafe. Your windows may be tinted but I know you're car like the back of my hand."

"Wait a minute so even though all of that was fake; Neji still had his arm around you, right?"

"Um I guess."

"So your best friend put his arm around you not to mention that you're wearing his blazer right now."

"I'm not wearing his blazer…" she looked down to see she was still wearing it "Oh what do you know I am still wearing it. I guess I forgot to give back."

"That's something a guy would do for his girlfriend." She slyly grinned

"Give it a rest Ino were not dating and we never will. It's bad enough that Naoya is pestering me about this, I don't need you doing the same."

"What now she's after you; well I can't say I'm surprised, she always goes after girls in a relationship with Neji."

"Whatever she doesn't scare me."

Xxx

"Hey I'm getting pretty hungry. Let's go out for dinner." Sakura suggested

"Sure but where are we going to go?" Came Hinata

"I say we go into town for dinner and I think we should invite the guys. What do you guys think?" Ino said

"Sounds good to me, but we're definitely not going in our uniforms. Let's change then get the guys."

Twenty minutes later the girls came out in their new outfits: Ino wore a crimson polo-neck and long black trousers with a white trench coat; Sakura wore a teal long sleeve dress with black stockings and ankle boots; Tenten wore knee length dark chocolate brown boots white winter pants and a black polo-neck with a black jacket and finally Hinata wore a long sleeved navy jump suit along with a grey jacket and ankle boots.

"Okay so who's going to invite the guys?" Ino asked as she tied her hair up "I nominate Tenten."

"I second that." Sakura agreed

"Fine it just gives me an opportunity to give Neji his blazer back. You guys should head downstairs so long." Tenten took Neji's blazer and headed out to the guys room. She knocked on their door and was greeted by Naruto.

"Hey Tenten"

"Hey Naruto" she greeted as she walked into their room. Shikamaru was staring- bored out of his mind- at the ceiling, Sasuke was reading on his bed and Neji was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey the girls and I are going out to dinner and we decided to invite you guys." She said as she placed Neji's blazer on his bed. The guys looked at her questioningly…

"Don't worry about why I have his blazer." She eyed the guys

"I don't know, it sounds like a drag." Came shikamaru from his bed

"Hey you don't have to come if don't want to." She replied

"Well I'm going I'm starving." Naruto energetically said

"I might as well go along I'm getting hungry as well." Shikamaru gave in. Sasuke gave no answer but they all knew he was going with.

"Where's Neji?" Tenten looked around the room and took a seat on his bed

"He should be in any minute now." Naruto slyly said. Just as Naruto finished his sentence Neji walked into the room in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. The room fell silent when Tenten got to see what Neji looked like under his uniform and she had to admit that it was a very pleasant sight. He had quite a well-defined body; he wasn't a total beef cake but he definitely had a good build and his arms had definition. She found it difficult to tear her eyes away from his chest but she managed to look away while trying to conceal her red cheeks.

" _Aw dammit; why'd he have to walk in now in nothing but a towel? Not that I'm complaining-no wait I didn't mean that. Just calm down Tenten; take a deep breath before you speak."_ She was totally freaking out in her head

"Tenten what are you doing here?" he asked as he walked towards his bed that Tenten was currently sitting on. She immediately stood up; if he got any closer to her like that she wouldn't know what to do. She cleared her throat before she spoke up.

"Well um, we decided to go out for dinner so I guess I'll wait downstairs with the others. See you in a bit." She looked at anything but Neji when she spoke and practically ran out the door. Her cheeks were still red when she made it back to the girls.

"Tenten what's the matter, why are your cheeks so red?" Hinata asked

"I had a bit of a situation upstairs with Neji." She said as she rested her hands on her knees

"Ooh care to tell us what happened." Ino moved closer to hear the story

"Well I invited the guys and they all agreed; then Neji came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist…

"So what's wrong with that?" Sakura raised a brow

"Let me rephrase that; Neji came out of the bathroom with _only_ a towel around his waist. There was _a lot_ of skin showing and I couldn't help but stare." She hung her head low

"And how was the view?" Ino smirked

"In a word-gorgeous, but I can't think that about him were just friends."

"Well maybe it's time you became more than friends with him." Ino was being completely serious

"I don't know I mean I'm not just going to start dating him just because I think he has a great physique."

"But it's not just his great physique that you like so much about him; I mean you guys spend a lot of time together and you enjoy yourselves because you genuinely like each other right?"

"Yeah I guess so. But this is just my side I don't even know how he feels—

—Alright let's go!" Naruto yelled as he descended the stairs followed by the other guys. Ino and Tenten gave each other a 'to be continued' look as they all headed to the student parking lot.

The arrangements for the cars were as follows: Sasuke, Sakura, Neji and Tenten took Sasuke's Mercedes, with Sasuke and Sakura in the front while Neji and Tenten sat in the back. Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto and Hinata went in Shikamaru's BMW with Ino and Shikamaru in the front and Naruto and Hinata in the back seats.

The gang arrived at the restaurant after a thirty minute drive into town. They all walked into the heated restaurant and found a table large enough for the eight of them. The seated themselves with Shikamaru sitting at the end followed by Ino, Neji, Tenten, Hinata, Naruto, Sakura and finally Sasuke sitting at the other end.

Once they were seated and settled in, a waiter came to take their orders. He was tall and handsome and looked about three years max older than them.

"Welcome to Food Masters restaurant I'm your waiter Shintaro, what can I get you?"

"We'll take two deluxe barbeque platters and a bowl of rice each." Naruto ordered before consulting the rest of the group

"Alright that's two deluxe barbeque platters and eight bowls of rice. You're in luck Tuesday night is when the ladies get their first meal for free; that means you beautiful." He winked at Sakura, who was quite taken aback by his forwardness. He then smiled at her one last time before walking away.

"Well that was amusing." Ino spoke up

"Clearly you've caught his eye Sakura; and fortunately or unfortunately for you he's our waiter for the evening so he'll definitely try some more tricks on you." Said Tenten with an amused smile

"Well I'm not interested" she commented

Moments later Shintaro arrived with their food and they immediately began eating. They finished eating about an hour later.

"That was fantastic." Naruto commented as he rubbed his full belly

"Yeah it was, excuse me for a bit guys." Sakura spoke up. Sasuke stood up and allowed Sakura to leave. As soon as she entered the women's bathroom someone stood outside waiting for her. After she came out a hand took her wrist and led her to a less crowded section of the restaurant.

"Hey there remember me?" he spoke up. It was Shintaro and he was wearing ordinary clothes.

"Oh you're Shintaro right?" she asked

"Yeah but now that my shift is over I'd like to buy you a drink."

"Um thanks but no thanks; I really need to get back to my friends." She tried walking away but he just moved in front of her blocking her path.

"Please get out of my way." She asked irritably

"C'mon I could show you a really great time out on the town." He took a step closer to her and was within kissing distance. Sakura was uncomfortable enough with him being so close then he made things even worse by putting his arms on her shoulders. She finally had had enough.

"Get your hands off me and I said no thanks." She pushed him away from her and headed back to her friends.

"Hey Sakura what took you so long?" Hinata asked. The whole gang was standing and ready to head back to school as it was already five past nine and they needed to go if they wanted to make it back on time.

"That jerk Shintaro caught me after I got out of the bathroom, and put his hands on me."

"Whoa that's really creepy." Ino commented "Well it's time we headed back to school if we want to make it back in time." She continued

Sakura could've sworn she saw Sasuke clench his fists when she explained her story but she dismissed it.

They all made it to the cars and sat the same way they did when they first arrived. Half an hour later they arrived back at school; said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

In the guys' room

"Man Sasuke, could you have made it any more obvious that you like Sakura?" Naruto teased

"What are you talking about you loser?"

"The way you got all jealous when that waiter was hitting on Sakura and the way you got all angry when she told us that he put his hands on her. Why'd you get so angry, it's not she's yours or anything" He pressed on, very much aware of what he was doing

"I never said she was mine." Sasuke was getting annoyed

"Then why do you get so upset when some guy other than you is alone with her." Naruto was clearly enjoying himself

"Because _I'm_ the only guy good enough for her!" he shouted

Silence filled the room. Naruto finally got Sasuke to admit what he had known for a long time: he liked Sakura. Naruto had a triumphant smile on his face while Shikamaru and Neji couldn't hide their amusement either.

"Hn, whatever" Sasuke left the room. He needed to get away from the guys for a bit even if it was only for ten minutes seeing that it was ten to ten. As soon as he turned the corner he saw Sakura walk out of her room in her pyjamas. She waved over to Sasuke; apparently she was looking for him.

"Hey Sasuke I forgot to give back your keys after I fetched my phone from your car. Here you go." She handed back his keys and was ready to go when Sasuke held onto her wrist before she could leave. She turned around to face him.

"Sasuke is there something wrong, you look kind of agitated." She asked

He stared at her for a while before answering her.

"No I'm fine, it's nothing."

"Oh, well if it's nothing then can I have my arm back, it's almost ten."

"You're going to bed already?" he asked looking at her in her sky blue pyjama shirt and matching shorts, both with white feathers on them. Sasuke Uchiha wasn't much of a talker let alone the one to start a conversation so she found it quite strange that he asked.

"Well no I just don't want to have to change later; right now I'm packing my bags for tomorrow." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear "Well goodnight I'll see you tomorrow morning." She turned around and headed to her room as soon as Sasuke released her wrist. Sasuke stood on the spot for a while longer after he watched her leave.

" _Sakura"_ he said in his head

"You were gone a while, what happened?" Ino asked while dressing in her navy pyjama dress.

"I just had a little talk with Sasuke." She smiled as she finished packing her school back pack.

"I really don't want to go to sleep because when we wake up it'll be tomorrow." Tenten complained

"You're so dramatic Tenten; you make school sound like a death sentence. It really isn't that bad and starting tomorrow we're going back to school."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Classes, Catch up's and lock in's**

The torturous sounds of the alarm clock going off at six o clock in the morning drilled into the girls' ears, annoying them enough to wake them up because frankly ignoring it only made things worse. Ino shut off the alarm before stretching and getting out of bed. She then threw her pillow at Sakura to wake her up.

"Wake up Sakura we need to get ready for school." she yawned

"I'm not the only one in the room you know, why'd you throw your pillow at me?" she spoke tiredly

"Because you were the closest, now get Hinata and Tenten out of bed or we'll be late." She said on her way to the shower. Hinata was awake before Sakura even got to her however Tenten was still fast asleep.

 _She was lying next to Neji in bed when she slowly sat up and looked over to him. He sat up and looked into her chocolate brown eyes for a while before he put his hand under her chin. She immediately blushed when he touched her and because he was shirtless. He leaned in closer and closer until their lips met in a passionate kiss._

 _Tenten had never felt anything so wonderful, his lips were soft and he was a great kisser. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers in his long hair and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap before deepening the kiss…_

"TENTEN!" Sakura yelled right next to her ear which woke Tenten immediately and almost made her fall out of bed. She looked up to see Sakura standing next to her with her arms folded.

"It's your turn in the shower; now hurry up before you get late." She walked away to continue dressing. "What were you dreaming about anyway?"

"Oh um, nothing in particular." She got out of bed and headed towards the shower. There was no way on earth she could ever tell them what she really dreamt about otherwise she wouldn't hear the end of it.

An hour later the girls were all dressed and ready for school so the y went to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. They had an hour until classes began since it was seven 'o' clock. They found an empty table and began eating when the guys walked in. Ino waved the guys over to their table and they took their seats.

Tenten felt uncomfortable when Neji sat next to her since she still hadn't recovered from her not so innocent dream about him. But she managed to put on a normal face and hoped her timetable for the day wouldn't involve too much of him in it. She took out her timetable which she had received when she'd arrived back at school and opened the envelope to see where she went for the first four periods. Her heart sank when she read it

 _Gym class with Guy sensei: periods one and two_

 _English with Kurenai sensei: periods three and four_

 _Break: 35 min_

 _Biology with Kakashi sensei: periods five and six_

 _Mathematics with Asuma sensei: periods seven and eight_

 _Break: 25 min_

 _History with Anko sensei: periods nine and ten_

 _Geography with Yamato sensei: period eleven_

Three out of her six subjects involved Neji, namely Gym, History and Geography.

" _Well as long as I don't think about the dream I should be fine and as long as I don't daydream about him I'll survive-I hope."_ She spoke in her head

Eight 'o' clock arrived and the gang went their separate ways to their first class of the day. Neji and Tenten went to the gym to get dressed in their gym clothes. The gym clothes for guys and girls in winter consisted of long cobalt blue pants and a black thick strapped shirts for the girls and muscle shirts for the guys, both outlined in cobalt blue.

"Alright class today in gym we're going to be having a relay race. Now I'll divide you into teams of four." Guy sensei enthusiastically spoke

Guy sensei divided the class into four separate teams. Tenten's team was going against Naoya's team and Naoya looked determined to win.

"You're going down Tenten, you're just lucky that you have Neji on your team." She folded her arms. The two teams got ready, Tenten and Naoya were the finishers, and Neji and Yuki— another one of Neji's fangirls and Naoya's best friend and a talented athlete was running against Neji—were the pair that would hand the batons to Tenten and Naoya.

"Ready…set…GO!" Guy sensei shot the starting pistol and the race began. Naoya's team was in the lead and then the second team took off and ran towards Neji and Yuki they both started jogging and held out their hands ready to receive the batons. Neji got his before Yuki got hers so he sprinted towards Tenten as fast as he could. But Yuki caught up to Neji in a matter of seconds, they both handed over their batons to the finishers but Tenten got hers literally a split second before Naoya and bolted towards the finish line. Naoya tried to trip Tenten with her baton but Tenten managed to jump out of the way and got a reasonable distance ahead of her, but it was short lived as she quickly caught up again. The finish line was in sight. Only a few more seconds to go. Tenten wouldn't let Naoya win…3…2…1…Victory!

Tenten made it across the finish line before Naoya. She was panting but managed to crack a smile to Naoya who looked furious.

"Looks like I beat your sorry butt." she bragged. Naoya just walked away and to sit with Yuki. Tenten ran over to Neji and in all the excitement she ran into his arms.

"We won Neji, we were great." She hugged him and looked up into his eyes for a while which reminded her of her of her dream. She quickly broke away from the hug.

Xxx

It was break time; all the students made their way their way to the cafeteria for lunch. The gang met up for lunch.

"Hey Neji, Tenten I heard about your race in gym class today. Great job on beating Naoya, she still looks totally ticked off." Ino commented

"Thanks, you should have seen her as soon as the race was over. She looked about ready to blow especially when I—" Tenten suddenly remembered when she ran into Neji's arms "Um never mind." She ended her story there but she knew she wasn't out of the woods yet, having friends like Ino and Sakura meant that they would get the truth out of her by any means necessary.

Xxx

It was five past one in the afternoon; Sakura had a free period so she decided to go to the library. She was a library monitor on some days and today was one of those days. She was in charge of keeping the silence in the library and helping students check out books when the school librarian wasn't available.

"Hey Sakura" someone from behind greeted her

"Oh hey Nakamishi" she greeted back. Nakamishi Moe was a guy in a few of Sakura's classes. They'd even worked on a few assignments together so they'd become close friends. She walked over to the scanning table and scanned his book to be checked out.

"Last time I saw you; we were saying goodbye for the holidays. We definitely need to catch up." She said as she handed back his book.

"I agree, how about we catch up over lunch on Friday?" he asked

"Sounds great see you on Friday." She watched him leave the library then suddenly a lot of talking was coming from outside. Sakura went to investigate. It turns out that it was nothing more than Sasuke's fangirls crowding around him on the balcony of the library. It was her job to make sure things remained quiet in the library not to mention that fangirls really annoyed her so she did her job with a smile.

"Alright ladies break it up this is a library not a celebrity show. If you're not here to get a book or read then get out of here." She managed to yell over their girly squeals around an indifferent Sasuke who was reading or at least trying to until those annoying fangirls of his showed up. Annoyed at her presence; the group of fangirls dispersed leaving behind the comfortable silence that all libraries should have.

"That's much better." She exhaled as she leaned against the railing of the balcony

"Thanks" Sasuke looked up from his book

"Anytime"

"Who was that guy you were with a few minutes ago." He asked

"Oh that was Nakamishi; he's a really good friend of mine." She sat down in the chair opposite his

"I see" he raised a brow and smirked at her. Sakura knew all too well what Sasuke meant by that statement.

"No not like that Sasuke were just friends. Sheesh why do have to do that?"

"I never said anything; you just assumed that I didn't understand what you meant."

"Yeah right, I've known you long enough to figure out what you mean whenever you smirk and raise your eyebrow like that." She playfully poked him in the arm. It hadn't been this relaxed between them in a long time. Sakura really enjoyed spending time with Sasuke.

Xxx

Ino was bored out her mind in Biology class and Shikamaru—who was two seats in front of her— didn't looked too enthusiastic either. She decided to whip out her cellphone and talk to Shikamaru. Luckily for her she knew he wasn't stupid enough to leave his phone on sound or stupid enough to get caught texting and as for Ino—she was a texting expert.

" **Hey Shikamaru"**

" **You choose now of all times to text me."**

" **Well I'm bored out of my mind."**

" **So you decided to use me as your relief from boredom."**

" **Pretty much, what else do you want me to do?"**

" **Try paying attention in class."**

" **Yeah right; like you're paying attention either. You're just as bored as I am."**

" **Sure I am but were being tested on this stuff on Monday, you do know that right?"**

" **Are you serious!?"**

" **Dead serious, and it looks like we both missed the lesson, class ends in less than a minute."**

" **Help me study this weekend?"**

" **You're such a drag"**

" **Shikamaru!"**

" **Fine"**

" **Love ya"** she shut her cellphone and packed her back pack; then the bell rang and the class was dismissed. She caught up to Shikamaru in the hallway when he made his way to his locker. She stood by his locker and spoke to him while he swapped his books. She was suddenly grabbed by the wrist.

"What do you think you're doing with Shikamaru?" Naoya spat

"Talking to him, what does it look like?" she replied then folded her arms

"Well you can't, he only goes for intelligent people like me." Naoya raised her head high

"Weren't you listening, I'm not _going_ for him, I'm talking to him. And what the heck is your problem anyways, first you've declared Neji as you property, then you have your little satellite dish friends revolve around Sasuke all day and now you're targeting Shikamaru."

"I'm just protecting what's mine. I'm keeping the hottest guys in school away from losers and wannabe's like you and you're little friends."

"Oh please if it ever came to Shikamaru choosing between you and me there's no competition; he'd choose me. We've been friends for years and you, well frankly he doesn't even know you exist and if he does he only sees you for what you really are— an annoying and insignificant little spec." Ino had had quite enough of the fangirls at their school.

"Hey Ino let's go." Shikamaru called out

"Coming Shikamaru" she replied then turned back to Naoya with an arrogant smile on her face

"What did I tell you?" she turned around and flipped her long blonde hair in Naoya's face before catching up to Shikamaru.

"What was that about?" he asked as they walked upstairs together

"Nothing you need to worry about." She simply replied

Xxx

It was the last ten minutes of the day; Naruto couldn't stop fidgeting, hoping the period would end. He really disliked school. Anko sensei had instructed the class to read their textbooks in silence for the last few minutes of the lesson so the class was completely silent. Hinata—who sat next to him— watched Naruto for a while as he could barely keep his eyes open. Then finally when was about to lose his mind the bell finally rang ending school for the day. Hinata was in the process of packing away her books when Naruto's hand stopped on top of hers making her blush.

"Hey Hinata you want to get something to eat with me?" he sweetly asked

"Sure Naruto I'd love to"

Xxx

"Hey where's Hinata?" Tenten asked as she changed out of her school uniform

"She's on a lunch date or something with Naruto" Sakura replied

"Hey I just remembered; Tenten you never did finish your story about what happened in gym class with Neji." Ino walked over to Tenten's bed and sat down

I'm not telling you anything because if I do you'll never let me live it down."

"Oh so it was something juicy, now you have to tell me."

"It wasn't anything spectacular."

"If it wasn't spectacular—

—Guys, guys, guys Naruto and I kissed!" Hinata burst in through the door with an ecstatic smile on her face

"WHAT!" her friends chorused

"We kissed after our lunch right now."

"How'd it happen?" Ino was the first to ask

"Well after lunch we went for a walk around the school grounds and we stopped under a tree; and just started talking, then next thing you know we just leaned in until our lips met." She blushed as she retold the story.

"That's so cute, you make getting a kiss from a guy look so easy." Ino spoke

Friday afternoon arrived; Sakura got ready for her lunch 'date' with Nakamishi. It was still snowing so the sky was grey and dark, decorating the earth with its snowflakes. She headed downstairs to meet Nakamishi when she bumped into Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke"

"Where are you going?" he asked

"I'm going to lunch with Nakamishi in town. Oh there he is I'll see you later Sasuke. She headed out the door to catch up to him. She caught sight of a look he'd never given her before, she couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

They climbed into his navy Mazda and drove into town. Nakamishi pulled up in front of the restaurant and opened the door for Sakura and allowed her to walk in first. They quickly went inside and ordered hot chocolate for themselves and something to eat. They were at the restaurant for an hour, eating desert and laughing until the news playing in the restaurant got their attention.

"… _The snow fall has started to pick up covering the roads in a blanket of snow. The public is advised to remain indoors until the snow is cleared away by the officials…"_

"Well it looks like were staying longer than we expected."

"I don't mind I'm having a great time." Sakura replied

"So how are things going between you and Sasuke?"

"Things are definitely getting better as opposed to last year."

"That's great, so when are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?" she asked confused. He answered her by raising an eyebrow at her and folding his arms. She immediately knew what he was talking about, her eyes widened slightly.

"How long have you..."

"Long enough Sakura. I can see it clear as day when you're with him, and I've got to say that it's a two way street."

"No way Sasuke doesn't…" she suddenly remembered his reaction to the whole Shintaro incident, when he grabbed her wrist in the hallway the other night and the unreadable look he gave her when she told him about going to lunch with Nakamishi. About an hour and a half later the roads were cleared and okay for use. Sakura and Nakamishi headed back to the car and drove back to school. They got inside and hugged goodbye. Sakura went upstairs to her room.

"Hey Sakura, how was lunch with Nakamishi?" Hinata asked

"It was great even though we got stuck there because the roads got snowed over."

"Where're Ino and Tenten?" she looked around the empty room apart from Hinata

"Ino studying with Shikamaru in the library for their test on Monday and Tenten's doing an assignment with Neji."

"Wow its only day one and things have already gotten serious. So how are things going between you and Naruto?" sakura asked

"It's going really well between us, we're going out for dinner tomorrow."

"That's great, who would have thought that you would the first of us to get a boyfriend"

"I'd actually be the second if you and Sasuke would just talk to each other about how you feel about each other."

"Hinata you too"

"Sakura I'm pretty sure Ino and Tenten know about your feelings for him too."

"I just don't know what to do, I like how things are between us now but I would like to be than friends with him." She sat down on her bed

Xxx

It was six 'o' clock; Ino and Shikamaru met in the school library to study for their Biology test on Monday.

"Agh this is so boring, who cares how a cell splits anyways. Could mitosis be any more boring?" she complained

"It's a total drag but we have to study if we want to pass."

"I guess you're right, let's get started."

The both of them stopped their complaining—for a while— and started studying for longer than expected. It was already quarter to nine when they decided to get something to eat. All of the students were gone; the two of them had the entire library to themselves.

"It's getting pretty late we should get out of here before they lock up this place." Shikamaru said as he threw away his plastic food container.

"Yeah let's go." Ino gathered her books and started walking to the door

"Um we've got a problem"

"What's the matter?" she asked

"We've been locked in."

"Are you serious; the library opens at six a.m. that means were stuck here until then." She said disappointedly

The pair had been in the library completely bored for what felt like hours. When Ino checked the time again it was already 22:35.

"Well there's no point in staying up all night, it won't bring tomorrow any faster, we might as well get some rest." Shikamaru said as he stood up "I'll get the lights."

Ino rested her head on her arms and almost immediately fell asleep.

Saturday six a.m. arrived. A key turning in a door lock woke Ino up. She tiredly lifted her head to see Shikamaru asleep opposite her and their hands were intertwined. She didn't even realise their hands touched after they fell asleep.

"Shikamaru wake up." She gently shook him awake. He tiredly rubbed his eyes and looked up at her.

"I heard a key unlock the door. I think someone's coming in."

"It's about time."

They both stood up to see Sakura walk in dressed in her pyjamas and a gown. It was dark inside the library due to the overcast sky outside so Sakura turned on the lights and finally saw Ino and Shikamaru.

"What the—how'd you two get in here?" Sakura asked

"We've been in here since five p.m. yesterday, we got locked in. And where did you get the keys to the library?" Ino asked

"I work in the library remember so I have a spare key to this place."

"I didn't know you had a spare key, why didn't you tell me!"

"Because you never asked."

"No point in getting worked up over it now. Now if you will excuse me I'm going to bed." Shikamaru gathered his things and left the library.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Valentine's Day**

"Don't you just love February; it's such a romantic month." Ino said as she looked out the window

"I guess so although it should be a romantic month for Hinata now that she has Naruto." Sakura winked at her

"As for the rest of us it should just be a normal month." Tenten commented

"I wouldn't say that you never know what might happen Tenten." Ino grinned

"You know guys it wouldn't hurt for us to have a little fun this month. So I say we all go to the Valentine's Day Festival in town." She pulled out four tickets from her backpack.

"Sounds like fun, what do you say guys?" Ino took her ticket

"Sure why not" sakura agreed

"I'm game." Tenten agreed as well

" _Perfect"_ Hinata said in her head

Meanwhile in the guy's room…

"Don't you just love February; it's such a romantic month." Naruto walked in the room with a smile on his face

"You're only saying that because you have girlfriend now." Came Sasuke from his bed

"That may be so but would it kill you to be a little romantic Sasuke?"

"Probably"

"Then I want to see you die trying but you probably won't because you _can't._ " Naruto mocked him

"Is that a challenge?" Sasuke spoke darkly

"You bet it is, I dare you, Neji and Shikamaru to take Sakura, Tenten and Ino to this…" he pulled out the poster to the same Valentine's Day Festival that Hinata spoke about earlier.

"You're on loser" Sasuke accepted the challenge without letting Naruto finish, which would be to his detriment

"I wasn't done yet; you also have to buy them a gift— a legit gift." He slyly grinned

"Hey this is between you and Sasuke don't drag me into this." Shikamaru complained

"But what I said to him involves all three of you. None of you were going to do anything for the others this month so I decided to do it for you."

"Well I'm not doing it."

"What about you Neji are you in?" Naruto asked

"I'm not foolish enough to fall for such an obvious trap."

" _That's all right, after all I'm sure Ino and Tenten will take care of those two."_ He said in his head

Back in the girls' room

Ino was putting on her shoes while Sakura was doing her hair and Hinata was packing her books in her bag. The three girls were ready for school so they headed downstairs for breakfast leaving Tenten in the room by herself; luckily she had a free first period so she didn't need to be ready as quickly as the girls. She'd just put on her underwear when someone knocked at the door.

"I'm coming" she yelled getting up to answer the door thinking it was one of her friends that had perhaps forgotten something. To her absolute surprise and horror it wasn't Sakura, Ino or Hinata; it wasn't even a girl but none other than Neji Hyuuga. The both of them froze upon seeing each other—Neji froze because Tenten was standing at the door in nothing but a black bra with white lace and black underwear with white polka dots and Tenten froze because Neji was at her door while she was only twenty percent dressed. They both blushed and looked away from each other.

"Um just give a minute." She quickly closed the door _"…dammit what is wrong with me…"_ he heard her yelling on the other side of the door.

"Did I just see Tenten in her underwear?" he said in his head

" _ **Yes indeed you did and wow does she have one hell of a body."**_

"Oh great my inner self is a pervert."

" _ **I think everyone has a perverted inner self. But you have to admit she looked pretty sexy in her underwear."**_

"I don't want to admit it but she did look incredibly attractive but I can't have thoughts like that about Tenten, we're just friends."

" _ **Lots of people who started out as friends end up dating so what's the difference if it's you two. Just picture it you're blindfolded and she comes up to you in that outfit—if you can call it that— then she—**_

"Okay that's quite enough, this conversation is over."

Tenten came out of the room again fully clothed but still a little red cheeked from earlier.

"Okay let's go finish our assignment, its due in an hour." She tried to sound convincing but the embarrassment hadn't worn off yet. _"How many times am I going to have to go through blushing in front of him because one of us undressed?" she complained in her head_

 _ **Hopefully a few more times, I liked looking at his body. Maybe next time you should both be undressed then-**_

" _Aw man I'd done such a great job of ignoring you when I saw him in nothing but a towel; and now you decide to show up."_ Tenten really disliked her inner self

"Look Neji, um sorry about, well you know what just happened."

"No need to apologise Tenten it was an accident."

" _ **The best accident that ever happened to you. You enjoyed every second of seeing her like that didn't you, because I know I did and since we're the same person that means you too."**_ Neji grew weary of hearing his inner self speak.

Xxx

"Hurry Shikamaru we're going to be late for class. I studied too hard for this test to end up not writing it." She took his hand and began running to class.

"Ino our class is this way." He turned around and pulled in the opposite direction. They turned and ran down the corridor; their classroom was in sight when suddenly Shikamaru tripped taking Ino with him. He landed on the ground and Ino fell right on top of him, her face in his chest. What a compromising position they'd landed in. Ino was positioned in such a way that her legs were on either side of him and he'd tried to catch her so his arms were around her waist not to mention their faces were extremely close. Their position almost looked intentional. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment then leaned in until their lips met for the briefest moment then they broke apart upon hearing the door to the classroom open. Apparently Kakashi sensei heard their fall and came outside to investigate.

"Care to join us in class Ino, Shikamaru?" he asked in a not so serious tone. Ino couldn't blush any harder even if she wanted to, being caught by a teacher in the position they were in was bad enough but being caught by Kakashi Sensei specifically was worse; Ino knew what he'd try to pull after the test.

They both recovered as much as they could and walked into class as if nothing ever happened.

An hour later the class was dismissed after all the test papers were handed in. Ino just finished packing her backpack and was on her way out when Kakashi sensei stopped her.

"Ino what happened out there between you and Shikamaru?"

"Nothing sensei, we just tripped while running to get to your class." She tried to sound convincing. That was what happened after all she just didn't add the part about the kiss.

"I see, but if it was what I think it was, I suggest you leave that stuff for the bedroom, you'll have more privacy there."

Ino could have been mistaken for a tomato the way she was so red after hearing what he said. She practically sprinted out of his classroom when he dismissed her.

Sakura was once again in the library with Sasuke this time they were eating together. The library was almost completely empty, the both of them were on the balcony; he was sitting in one of the reading chairs eating a bunch of grapes and she sat on the arm of his chair and ate the grapes with him. They were talking but their innocent conversation quickly changed.

"I definitely think you find me attractive."

"What on earth gave you that idea?" She raised an eyebrow at him

"Just look at how close you are to me when there's an open chair right over there. You just want to be close to me don't you." he smirked at her

"Sasuke of course you're attractive why else do you think those annoying girls follow you around all the time. I specifically just don't find you that—what's the word those girls use all the time—sexy."

"So you do find me sexy just not as much as those fangirls do huh?" Sakura just rolled her eyes at him.

"But I actually think you're the one hiding something." She took the opportunity to lean into his lap and rest her head on the other arm of the chair.

"You reacted so negatively everytime I mentioned another guy." She smirked at him this time then propped herself up until she was on eye level with Sasuke. "Just admit you like me Sasuke and this little game will be over." She purposely spoke in a low voice to catch him off guard

"Kiss me" she said as she leaned in

"What?"

"You heard me" she leaned in until her lips were a single millimetre from touching his. She smiled when she saw him flinch then she pulled away.

"You are so easy Sasuke." She stood up or at least she was half way up when Sasuke pulled her into his lap again.

"Where do you think you're going?" he whispered in her ear "This doesn't mean I admit that I like you but I just can't resist." He passionately pressed his lips to hers securing her on his lap then deepening the kiss. Sakura wasn't about to be out done by him so she kissed back with full force and wrapped her arms around his neck while Sasuke had his arms around her waist. Sakura moaned in pleasure when he deepened the kiss once more. Their kiss ended as they broke apart for air.

"Not bad"

"Oh please you enjoyed that just as much as I did, maybe even more." She smirked, he just raised a cocky brow at her "Hey you're the one that kissed me Sasuke because you just couldn't help yourself." she stood up "C'mon class starts in five minutes." She started walking to the sliding door and back into the library.

Xxx

" _I can't believe you made out with Sasuke…"_ Tenten heard Ino yell on the other side of the door. She burst through the door to find out what was happening.

"Who made out with Sasuke?!" She asked

"Sakura did, in the library." Ino yelled once more

"This is so weird: first Shikamaru and I kissed before class, then Sakura made out with Sasuke; I'm telling you guys it's the effects of February."

"Wow so you guys kissed Sasuke and Shikamaru, I guess I'm the only innocent one left." Tenten sat on her bed

"Oh please don't play dumb Tenten, all of us can see that Neji is a little different and according to what Naruto told me, he came up here before heading off to class. You were the last one of us to leave this morning so he obviously saw you. So let me be the first to ask what happened this morning?" she grinned at Tenten

"Nothing happened, well nothing that involved kissing at least. It was similar to what happened when I saw him in a towel but in reverse."

"No way; are you saying he caught you after you got out of the shower?" Sakura's jaw dropped

"No I wasn't completely undressed; I was kind of in my underwear." Tenten blushed "It was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me. I thought it was one of you guys so I didn't think twice about answering the door as I was and when I saw him we both just…froze."

"Whoa that must have been quite the experience for him, seeing his best friend in her underwear."

"I just want to forget that it ever happened. I hope it doesn't change anything between us."

"Tenten it definitely changes everything. Now you've both seen each other practically undressed and remember what you said about his body, who says he isn't thinking the same thing about you, he is a guy after all. It's just a matter of time now." Ino explained

"Well tomorrow's the big day, everyone ready for the Valentine's Day Festival."

"I guess, but I have a challenge for you guys if you're up for it." Hinata suggested

"What did you have in mind Hinata?" Sakura asked

"Since Naruto and I are already going together, I challenge you guys to ask the guys to come along. Sakura you with Sasuke, Tenten you go with Neji and Ino you go with Shikamaru."

"Fine sounds good to me." Tenten accepted

Friday finally arrived and all the students were feeling the Valentine's Day mood. The school corridors were decorated with hearts of all the valentine's colours: red, white and pink. There were secret admirer notes on a lot of people's lockers and most of them were stuck to Sasuke's locker, it was practically raining with cards and letters.

It was lunchtime Sakura was walking to the cafeteria with Sasuke

"Hey Sasuke I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Festival with me in town tonight."

" _How did she…_ he asked himself "Sure" he agreed still a little suspicious as to how she already had had tickets

They met up with the others for lunch. The girls confirmed with each other that they'd asked their respective partners to go to the festival. All were present except for Naruto and Hinata; they were on the library balcony together.

"Tonight should be interesting" Naruto spoke up

"Yeah you're right, I can't wait" said Hinata

It was four 'o' clock it in the afternoon and the girls were getting ready for the festival.

Then they got changed and headed downstairs to meet the guys. They all went to the parking lot and drove off to the festival. An hour later they arrived at the festival. Bright lights, streamers, confetti, balloons, loud music, festival games, food stalls and people in costumes filled the scene.

"Wow this place looks amazing." The girls looked around in awe

"All right let's go have some fun!" Naruto declared

The group splintered off into their pairs and went to enjoy the festival. Ino and Shikamaru sat down in a warm café for some hot chocolate. The table they sat at was a small square table as the restaurant wanted couples to sit as close to each other as possible.

"I got you something." He spoke up

"Really?" she looked up at him and smiled. He pulled a small purple box and handed it to her. Ino took the small box and removed the lid to see a pair of earrings shaped in the letter "I".

"Wow they're really beautiful. I love them, thanks Shikamaru." She closed the box before putting her arms around him in a warm embrace. After the broke away from the hug, Ino kissed him on the lips.

Naruto and Hinata witnessed what had happened between Ino and Shikamaru. Naruto and Hinata smiled at each other before heading off to enjoy the festival.

Sasuke and Sakura were walking past the various stalls of the festival. They were walking and talking and genuinely enjoying each other's company.

"Ooh I want one of those giant cupcakes, you want one?"

"No thanks" he replied

"Okay I'll see you in a bit; I'm going to go buy one."

Sasuke took a seat in one of the nearby benches and looked up at the star filled sky. He took out his gift for Sakura, she'd always complained about her previous watch so he bought her a white watch, the rim of the clock was outlined in silver and the numbers were silver as well and outlined in black.

"Hey Sasuke." Tenten walked up to him "Is that for Sakura?" she asked. He nodded without saying a word; he looked quite lost in thought.

"Alright what's the problem?" she asked as she sat next to him

"It's a long story."

"It's not like I'm in any kind of rush."

"Well believe it or not Sakura and I tried dating last year but it didn't work out too well. In fact we almost destroyed our friendship completely in the process. We didn't speak to each other for weeks at a time and now things are starting to improve between us, we're really getting along now but…

"But you want to be more than friends with her and you're worried that dating her this time will end the same as it did last time." She finished for him

"Exactly"

"I say go for it, I'm not going to put words in her mouth but I think she would want you to try with her. What happened last year happened last year, this New Year means things have changed including the two of you so just tell her and see what happens." She stood up "Here comes Sakura now, just make your move." She walked away

"Hey was that Tenten with you just now?" she asked as she threw away her cupcake wrapper

"Yeah we were just talking, and I think I've made up my mind."

"About what—

He pulled her closer to himself and put an arm around her waist and kissed her for a few seconds before he pulled away.

"Oh that's what you were talking about. Well it's about time." She blushed

Sasuke then pulled out his gift for her and handed it to her. Sakura's face lit up when she saw the beautiful watch.

"Oh my goodness this is absolutely gorgeous Sasuke. What a great gift, thank you so much." She could barely hold her glee, and then she kissed him on the cheek. Naruto kissed Hinata on the forehead in celebration of their second victory as they'd witnessed Sasuke kiss Sakura. Now all that was left was Neji and Tenten. The two of them were walking together and sat on a bench in the less crowded section of the Festival. Neji pulled out his gift for Tenten.

"Here this is for you Tenten"

"A gift for me" she unwrapped the present and removed the lid from the box. Inside was a small silver frame with a photo of Neji and Tenten in their swimsuits, they were both smiling. Tenten had her arm around the back of his neck and his hand was around the small of her back.

"Hey I remember that day." She chuckled

 _It was during the summer holidays of the previous year. Tenten spent a week at Neji and Hinata's place. The three of them decided to spend the day in the pool. The both of them just got out of the pool when Hinata came out of the house with her new camera; she took pictures of just about everything including Neji and Tenten. Neji wasn't too keen about taking the photo but Tenten convinced him to stay._

" _Oh c'mon Neji just let Hinata take the picture." She pleaded and he eventually gave in_

"That day was so much fun." She smiled at the picture "Thanks, this is a great gift." They continued their conversation and Tenten leaned against his shoulder and he put his arm around her. Naruto and Hinata witnessed this as well and decided to head back to the others.

Xxx

"That was so much fun; don't you guys think so too?" Ino asked as sat on the bed and was still energised from the evening.

"Yeah it was great; Sasuke bought me this really beautiful watch." Sakura couldn't stop admiring her new watch.

"Shikamaru bought me these earrings."

"I got this photo frame from Neji as well as this panda-teddy he won for me in one of the Festival games."

"Then the plan worked flawlessly." Hinata smiled at the three girls in front of her

"What plan?" Tenten thought for a moment before something clicked in her head. "Oh no you didn't, Hinata you set us up."

"Well it was a team effort." She shyly rubbed the back of her head

"Wait you and Naruto planned this together _and_ you managed to pull it off. Impressive Hinata." Sakura deduced

"Now it all makes sense, you trapped us the minute you challenged us and took out your tickets. You're never usually that daring, we should have figured it out from the beginning but we were too blinded by the challenge." Ino figured it out

"And now thanks to me, Sakura and Ino kissed Sasuke and Shikamaru, now there's only one of us without a boyfriend." Ino, Sakura and Hinata looked in Tenten's direction.

"Well that's about to change." Ino said as she had a sly grin on her face which made Tenten nervous.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Operation—First Date**

It was the last week of February, the snowfall had decreased and the remaining snow had almost completely melted. The girls were sitting in their room as school had ended for the day and they were giving Tenten a piece of their minds.

"Alright Tenten you and Neji have been best friends forever now and anyone can see that there's chemistry between you two and it's about time you two did something about it." Ino explained

"Don't you think you're reading too much into it?" she asked

"Absolutely not, now it's about time you two went on a date together." Sakura added

She knew they weren't going let her out if this situation so she had no choice but to accept.

"Fine, if you say so."

"Great and the best part is that you guys won't have to worry about a thing because we're all pitching in to put this date together…"

Xxx

"…Alright Shikamaru you and I are handling their outfits, Sasuke and Sakura you two will sort out the location and finally Naruto and Hinata you two are the time keepers; it's your job to make sure Neji and Tenten are on schedule from the minute they start getting ready until just before their date. They can't afford to be even a single minute behind schedule otherwise the whole plan will fall apart." She flawlessly explained the plan "Everyone know and understand the plan" they all nodded in agreement

"Alright then let operation: first date, begin!" she dismissed them and they all headed to class together, meanwhile someone had listened to the entire plan unknown to Ino and the group. The person took out their cellphone and dialled a number; they waited for the person on the other line to pick up…

"You'll never guess what Ino and her little posse are planning for Neji and Tenten. A date for them this Saturday and we definitely need to stop them."

Tenten and Neji were sitting together in the library talking about their date being planned for them.

"They're planning absolutely everything, from the minute we leave until the very last minute of getting ready, it's crazy." She expressed as she ate her apple on the balcony

"That does sound a bit excessive but don't tell me you're against it"

"Oh not at all, I'm totally for it but it just seems a little strange that I have no idea where we're going and what time, and I'm actually the one going on the date."

"You're friends are just trying to do you a favour that's all. I think you're overthinking it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. And I'm actually quite excited to see what they've come up with… and spending an evening alone with you of course." She smirked at him when she said the last part of her sentence "But I am kind of nervous" she admitted

"What's there to be nervous about? We've been out together plenty of times"

"Yeah but none of those times were romantic dates. We just went out together as friends."

"It's okay if you're nervous, I mean look who you're going on a date with." He gladly complimented himself all while smirking at her

"You are so full of yourself Neji Hyuuga." She raised an eyebrow at him but couldn't help but smile

"I'm just kidding Tenten; you know I'm not that arrogant."

"Oh so you do admit to being arrogant but not as much as I think." She had him trapped—oh so she thought but then he did the unexpected. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head up so she was looking him directly in the eyes with a perfectly smug face she couldn't help but find attractive. Her cheeks blushed slightly as he leaned in to whisper in her ear in an intentionally seductive voice which slightly knocked her off balance.

"Hey I'm only like this because I know you like—scratch that—because I know you love it Tenten." He left her speechless as he pulled away and winked at her as he headed out of the library heading to class.

Ino and Shikamaru were in Gym class, they'd just run two laps around the gymnasium as Guy sensei instructed them. They decided to sit and catch their breath in the bleachers when Ino's cellphone vibrated.

" **We're a go on the location. Reservations for two at seven 'o' clock this Saturday at 'Classic Dining' restaurant."** Sakura texted

" **How on earth did you organise this during school hours?"**

" **Sasuke and I have our ways" she added a winking emoticon**

Ino put her phone away after finishing her conversation with Sakura.

"Alright so we've got a location and you and I have already taken care of their outfits. So that just leaves Naruto and Hinata's job and that one can't be completed until the actual date itself." Ino spoke to Shikamaru as he listened to the details. The same person that overheard the plan was hiding close enough to hear Ino speaking to Shikamaru; they smirked as soon as they heard the details of the restaurant and time.

Xxx

It was after school, Naoya was painting her nails navy blue when her best friend Yuki walked into the room she shared with her.

"Well they're going to 'Classic Dining' this Saturday at seven and Ino and Shikamaru have taken care of their outfits." She reported to Naoya "And they've got Naruto and Hinata on standby on the day of the date." She continued

"Good job Yuki, now we just need to come up with a plan to make sure that doesn't happen." She had evil smile on her face "And I've got the perfect plan…

Naruto and Hinata were eating lunch together as they went over the plan; Naruto then placed his arm around Hinata and she leaned into him.

"Do you think Neji and Tenten will end up together Naruto?"

"That's completely up to them, we're just setting up the date but whether they end up dating is their decision." Naruto explained and placed his chin on top of her head. He intertwined their fingers; she couldn't but smile and blushed. They were such an adorable couple—at least that's what Ino said everytime Hinata brought up Naruto in conversation. They weren't the kind to show off their relationship in public, they enjoyed spending their time alone together whenever they had the chance.

The next day Neji and Tenten were standing at her locker. Neji leaned against the locker next to hers with his arms folded with a smirk on his face as he was talking to Tenten. She was blushing as she took a book out of her locker.

"Remember our little talk in the library?" he asked

"You mean the one where you tried to convince me that I find you unbearably attractive, which is untrue by the way."

"I'm not so sure about that, you seem to tense up everytime I get close to you." he was teasing her

"Of course I tense up, you come within kissing distance of my face not to mention you always speak in that seductively low voice of yours. Just get over it Neji whatever you do won't work on me" She couldn't stop her inner self from speaking

" _ **Mmm but that's what you love about him, that voice, those eyes, those lips and best of all that body. You have to admit it Tenten, your best friend Neji Hyuuga is incredibly sexy."**_

" _Oh be quiet, I'll never admit anything to you…me…us…well you know what I mean. And would you stop talking about him like that."_

" _ **Hey I'm in your head which means that some part of you thinks he is attractive even if you don't admit it, I'm just proof that that you do like him."**_

" _Whatever"_ her inner self had a point; when she snapped back to reality the situation wasn't any better. Neji was standing in front of her; his arms on either side of her and his face incredibly close to hers. Her blush intensified and her heart rate sped up. She froze and could do nothing but keep eye contact.

"Neji what are you doing?" she whispered and he proceeded to lean in

"Just proving a point" he pulled away and smirked at her

"That wasn't fair you caught me off guard." She turned away from him

"Whatever you say Tenten" he was clearly amused as headed to class ahead of her. She quickly caught up to him and walked into class the same time he did.

Tenten just couldn't concentrate in class—not that she found biology boring or anything, she actually enjoyed it—but a certain Hyuuga occupied her thoughts. What was going on with her? A few days ago she could lie down in his lap completely unfazed but now she found herself blushing more often than not when she was with him. Just when she thought she was rid of him in her mind, he spoke to her in reality.

"…enten, Tenten class is over, are you coming?" he arched an eyebrow at her. She finally looked in his direction

"Oh is class already over? I didn't even notice." She tried to sound as casual as possible. He just stared at her with an amused look on his face; clearly he knew exactly what was going on in her head.

"You were thinking about me weren't you? But I can't say I blame you" he smirked at her; he obviously nailed the needle on the head for she couldn't maintain eye contact with him.

"Cut it out Neji, stop acting like a playboy."

"And how do you know that I'm not?" he raised an amused brow at her as he stood up, backpack in hand

"Because I know you better than that and if you were I wouldn't be able to stand you." she stood up as she spoke and walked out of class together with him and towards the cafeteria, when something occurred to her.

"Hey Neji can I ask you something?"

"Of course"

"Well since you figured out that I was thinking about you and I'm not going to deny that I do quite often, but do you…ever think about me?" she shyly asked although not without curiosity. He turned to her and looked her in the eyes for a few seconds before he answered her.

"More often than not" was his answer before he walked inside to join the rest of the group. Tenten stood on the spot for a few seconds processing his answer which surprised her to say the least.

She shook off the shock and walked towards her friends and took a seat next to Neji. She couldn't forget what he'd just to her.

"Hey are you okay Tenten?" sakura asked

Tenten looked over to Neji before answering "Yeah I'm fine" she couldn't help the smile that crept on to her lips which didn't go unnoticed by her friends.

The day of their first date had finally arrived. It was about five in the morning; Tenten was in the school gym practising with the punching bag. She barely got any sleep the previous night and when she woke up twenty minutes ago she decided to distract herself with exercise. She loved the silence the early morning had to offer; she could concentrate so easily and get lost in her own world. The rest of the school was still sound asleep lost in the world of slumber and not to be awakened for another four hours at least—it was Saturday after all. Tenten was so fixated on the punching bag that she hadn't even noticed that someone had walked in. The sound of a gym bag dropping to the floor broke Tenten out of her thoughts and brought her back to reality.

She whipped around to see someone she wasn't at all surprised to see would be awake at that hour. He was wearing black track pants and a white muscle shirt. He looked in her direction with those unreadable onyx eyes of his—it was Sasuke Uchiha.

"I should've known you'd be up at this hour, with today being the day that it is." He spoke up as he took a towel out of his bag and put it around his neck.

"And why are you up so early Sasuke?" she asked as she walked over to the punching bag he was standing in front of

"Why are you so nervous about today anyway?" he quickly changed the subject, obviously not wanting to talk about himself as he began boxing. Tenten sighed before answering his question—it was a typical move of Sasuke's; when he didn't feel like talking, he didn't and just ended up changing the subject.

"I just don't know how it's going to turn out" she admitted

"You're starting to sound like me on Valentine's Day"

"This is different to that time; you and Sakura had feelings for each other and you both knew it but with Neji and me…"

"You don't know if it's a two way street yet?" he stopped boxing and came around so he could look at her when he spoke. She shook her head; answering his question

"Well is it at least a one way street for either of you?" he asked as he took a seat next to her on the wrestling mat

"Well I guess it is on my side and that's what makes me so nervous. I do have feelings for him but I have no idea how he feels, I mean we've been through so much and I wish I could just skip the part that made me feel so…"

"Vulnerable" he finished for her "But isn't that the reason for this date? To find out if he has feelings for you in _that_ way. If he does then it would turn out successful but if he doesn't then at least you could find out what he truly thinks."

"I guess you're right"

"And by the way…" he stood up along with Tenten "He's an idiot if he doesn't realise how lucky he is to have someone like you in his life." Sasuke finished which made Tenten blush slightly. These were the types of conversations Sasuke and Tenten had together when they were alone. And they usually ended with someone cheering up the other person or giving them some advice; which was taken to heart. Tenten really loved the relationship she had with Sasuke; there were certain things that she could only tell him during their time together, she really valued his friendship.

She walked up to him and gave him a hug. "You know I feel like there are some things that I can only tell you." she smiled and broke away from the hug

"What was that hug for?" he raised a brow at her

"It was just to say thanks for everything; I really appreciate the effort you put into this date, despite the fact that you and him aren't…the best of friends"

"I'm not doing it for him; I'm doing it for a friend." He smirked at her

"Well don't I just have the best friends? I guess I'll see you later; I'll let you get back to your training. I know this wasn't the most ideal way of spending your Saturday morning—talking to me about my relationship problems" she smiled up at him

"Hey if it's the right person, any conversation is bearable."

"By the way Sasuke…" she stopped mid-way to the door and turned around to face him "I like this side of you; you should show this side to Sakura I'm sure she'll like it too."

"You think?"

"Definitely" she walked out the door and headed back upstairs to her room. She managed to slip back into her room without waking the other girls. Her conversation with him actually brought some fatigue back—or maybe it was the fact that she had only received four hours of sleep—causing her to fall asleep on her covers.

It was four o' clock in the afternoon. Ino was standing in front of Tenten with a gleam in her eyes.

"Alright Tenten, it's time to get started" Ino had everything she needed set up; which included a make-up bag, accessories, the dress, shoes and everything else. Tenten took a shower and came out and found Ino getting the make-up ready. Ino blow dried Tenten's hair and curled it over then combed it so it sat over her left shoulder. Next came the make-up: Tenten wore a rosy pink lip-gloss and mascara. She wore two silver bangles on her right wrist. And finally the dress: it was a knee-length champagne coloured strapless dress. It was fitted at the top half then cinched in by the waist then continued A-line until the knee. She wore this ensemble with black heels and had a matching black clutch bag.

"Oh my gosh Tenten, you look phenomenal." Ino complemented her and patted herself on the back for a job obviously well done

"Yeah you look fantastic wait until Neji sees you in this." Sakura commented as she put her shoes on

"Thanks guys. Hey wait a minute, where are you guys going?" she looked around the room to see all three of her friends were dressed to go somewhere

"Were going bowling with the guys tonight" came Hinata as she walked in the room from the bathroom

There was about twenty minutes until her date with Neji, the girls were all ready to go and were about to leave when Ino said one final thing to Tenten.

"Neji will be downstairs waiting for you in his car but don't go down to early but don't arrive too late; good luck and enjoy" she winked at her before heading out with Hinata and Sakura

Ten minutes until their date, Tenten gave herself a final overview and decided to head down stairs. It would take her five minutes to get to the car park anyway. But as soon as she tried to open the door; it wouldn't move—it was locked from the outside.

"Going somewhere Tenten?" the voice on the other side of the door was filled with so much spite and jealousy "Well not anymore"

Tenten was absolutely furious "What the hell are you doing Naoya?!"

"I'm making sure this date never happens. You'll never have Neji, I won't let you"

"You're absolutely insane, now open the damn door!" She was barely able to keep herself from screaming with rage

"No ways; did you know that if you swipe the wrong card in the door, it automatically locks itself until the correct card is swiped—from the outside?" Naoya had Tenten trapped; there was no way that she could leave the bedroom.

"So what you're going to keep me in here forever?" she spat

"Oh no; then people would grow suspicious. I'm just keeping you here until your little date is over."

"This is ridiculous…" she walked away from the door and further into the room and took out her cellphone to call him. Naoya could hear her busy with her phone

"I wouldn't try calling him if I were you" but her comments went unheard as Tenten pressed the dial button on her phone and heard his phone ringing. A few seconds later she actually heard his ringtone coming from outside the bedroom

"Didn't I tell you not to call him?" Naoya answered his phone

"How the hell did you get his cellphone?"

"It was quite easy actually. You know how laundry day is on Saturday's; well I found his blazer and found his phone in his blazer pocket. Poor Neji he probably forgot to take it out, if it weren't for me he wouldn't have one. I was going to give it back but then I remembered this date and decided to hold on to it. It seems he really is quite fond of you judging by the fact that his screensaver is a picture of the two of you."

Tenten tried calling her other friends but they never answered, it seems Naoya's been busy making sure Tenten couldn't contact anyone to rescue her. Tenten finally gave up and sat down on the edge of her bed. This was absolutely unbelievable, she finally got a date with Neji and now she can't even go. Her one chance to find out if he really had feelings for her and if they could take their friendship to the next level was taken away from her. She was sure he wouldn't even speak to her again after tonight, in his shoes he's being stood up.

22:49 the clock read. Tenten sat up when she heard voices grow louder outside her room.

"Well our weekend curfew of eleven 'o' clock is almost here so I guess it's time to open the door. I hope you can explain everything in ten minutes Tenten." She heard her swipe the card and the door unlocked. Tenten didn't know what to do; she was afraid to face him. She was standing at the door for a few seconds and eventually decided to go out. Naoya and her friends were already gone by the time she stepped into the hallway; which was almost completely empty.

She walked over to the guys' side and found Neji on his way to his room; she quickly caught up to him.

"Neji…" he turned around to see Tenten behind him

"Tenten…you look beautiful"

"Thanks, you look great too" things were quite awkward, there were a lot of uncomfortable pauses between their words "Look Neji…about what happened—

"You don't have to say anything Tenten."

"But you don't understand—

"I understand fine" he sharply cut her off "Goodnight Tenten" he carried on walking and left her where she was. Tenten felt tears welling up in her eyes as she headed back to her room.

She was sitting on the staircase when her friends were walking up the stairs; they'd obviously enjoyed their evening.

"Man Hinata I had no idea you were so good at bowling, you tied first place with Sasuke." Ino high-fived her

"I've always loved bowling—Tenten" she finally noticed her and the others followed suit and raced upstairs to get to Tenten.

"Oh no don't tell the date went badly" Sakura said

"The date didn't even happen. Naoya and her damn friends locked me in our room."

"Did you try calling him?" Ino asked

"They had his cellphone and you guys never picked up when I tried calling you."

"That's because we weren't allowed to have our phones with us. It was the dumbest rule I'd ever heard; that guy Hiroto was totally weird."

"Wait a minute, Hiroto, brown hair, honey-golden eyes?"

"Yeah"

"That's Naoya's older brother. She must have known you guys were headed there and asked him to be sure you guys didn't have your phones with you."

"So you couldn't talk to anyone?" Hinata asked

"No, and now Neji thinks I stood him up." She stood up and headed into their bedroom wiping away her tears.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Change of Scenery**

Tenten and Neji hadn't spoken to each other for weeks at a time. Tenten was barely speaking at all— not to Neji or to her friends. They started to notice her lack of socialisation. It was finally school holidays and the weather was finally warmer; the girls were in town getting ice-cream. They'd asked Tenten to come but she decided to stay at the dorm.

"Guys I'm really worried about Tenten." Sakura licked her chocolate ice-cream cone

"Yeah she and Neji haven't spoken to each other for weeks now. We need to do something"

"Maybe a change of scenery; now that it's the holidays we should go somewhere."

"Where to?" Ino asked

"We could go to our family beach house"

"You guys have a family beach house?"

"Well yeah, my parents, little sister, Neji and I usually go there for vacation when it's hot. And then we got to our winter resort obviously in winter." She explained

"Oh yeah, I forgot you Hyuuga's are loaded. But I think that's a great idea; time on the beach sounds great."

"Alright then it's settled we leave tomorrow."

They headed back to the school and found Tenten reading a book on her bed.

"Hey Tenten we're going on vacation so pack your bags." She looked up at the girls and agreed. She of all people needed a change of scenery so she got off her bed and began packing with her friends.

"Okay so what are the details?" she asked as she ate her dinner

"We're going to the Hyuuga beach house for two weeks. We've already spoken to the guys they're coming too. We leave tomorrow morning at four a.m.; it takes just over four and a half hours to get there."

"Alright than we better get to bed if we want to wake up early" Sakura said and got into her covers. They turned the lights out and went to bed; Tenten turned on her side and couldn't get Neji out of her head.

It was half past two in the morning; Tenten was the first of the girls to wake up and take a shower. The rest of the girls got up and got ready; they cleaned their room and took their luggage out by half past three. Hinata left ahead of the girls and went downstairs. They went downstairs and met the guys by the student parking lot. When they arrived they found Neji and Hinata standing in front of two Range Rovers: Hinata's was white and Neji's was black.

"When did these get here?" Naruto stared in awe

"I asked my father to have someone bring them yesterday." Hinata answered his question "Let's load the luggage and get going." She unlocked the boot.

The first car consisted of Hinata at the wheel, Naruto in the passenger's seat and Ino and Shikamaru comfortably in the back seat. The second car consisted of Neji at the wheel, Tenten awkwardly in the passenger's seat and Sasuke and Sakura in the back seat. After final check and the works the group set off on the road.

They hadn't been on the road for an hour yet and Tenten, Sasuke and Sakura had fallen asleep. Neji however was wide awake—he had to be since he was driving. The road ahead was consumed by darkness that was penetrated by the head lights of his car. He glanced to his side for a second and saw Tenten fast asleep; as much as he could tell for he could only look at her for split seconds; she looked quite comfortable and quite pure as the orange street lights poured in from her window and gave her a certain glow that he would never forget. It had been over two and a half weeks since he'd spoken to her—not since their supposed date—and he had to admit he missed having her talking to him more than he thought he would.

Did he have feelings for her? I mean sure he loved the way she'd overreact to him saying that she liked him; and the way she smiled at him—a smile that she only ever gave him and in his opinion the best smile. He also enjoyed spending time with her even when they didn't speak, they just enjoyed each other's company with a comfortable silence, and he also loved how she would shyly turn away from him when he'd made her blush. She knew the right question to ask when he didn't feel like talking and knew exactly what to say to make him feel better. The list could go on for all eternity but the thing he loved most about her was the way she said his name—to others it sounded casual, nothing really that special but to him it carried a lot of weight and meaning because of everything they'd been through together, she made his name so significant. After all that said Neji knew the answer to his question—he definitely had strong feelings for Tenten. He just didn't know what to do about it and he knew that refusing to speak to her was hurting her and that's the last thing he wanted to do to her.

It was six 'o' clock in the morning, the girls were still asleep but Sasuke just woke up. He could see Neji turning to the side ever so slightly to check up on Tenten.

"It seems I was right about you" he yawned

"What are you talking about?" Neji looked at him through the rear view mirror

"You do have feelings for her"

"Of course I do; she's a dear friend of mine"

"That's not what I meant and you know it. You have deeper feelings for her but you let your pride get in the way and it's clearly hurting her" Sasuke sat up now getting serious

"Aren't you a fine one to talk, lecturing me about pride. And what makes you think you know anything about her, unless, there's something you're not telling me" he tried hard to keep his voice under control as to not wake the girls

"That's none of your business and if you haven't noticed that she's been different for a while now, than you're even more of an idiot than I thought"

"Her not speaking has nothing to do with _that_ night"

"It has everything to with that night. You two haven't spoken to each other since that night and it's taking its toll on her, not being able to speak to the person she cares about most. She even started shutting her friends out, she barely talks at all. If you would just get off you high horse and let her explain what happened then she'd be okay."

Silence fell over them for a few minutes before Neji spoke up again

"Do you know what happened that night?"

"Of course I do but I'll let her tell you" another long pause occurred

"What is she to you?" he couldn't help but ask, he knew so much about her on a personal level, just as much as he did

"She's a very close friend and I don't like seeing her get hurt"

"Do you care about her?"

"Absolutely" Sasuke knew what his final question would be

"Do you…"

"No…but I know you do" he finished his sentence then decided to go back to sleep they still had over two and half hours to go.

At seven both Neji and Hinata pulled up at a rest stop, it was time for breakfast. The sun was fully out and shining when everyone got out of the cars to stretch their legs.

"Finally an opportunity to stretch our legs" came Ino from the second car

"Neji and I will refuel the cars, you guys should get breakfast so long" said Hinata

"Alright see you in a few" said Sakura as she and Sasuke went in the direction of coffee shop. The rest of the group went in their own directions to get food for themselves. Tenten was about to head off when she decided to ask drivers what they wanted to eat.

"Hey Hinata is there anything special you want for breakfast?"

"Could you get me a cappuccino and a couple of croissants?"

"Sure" she then went over to Neji's car ask him what he wanted

"Anything specific you want for breakfast Neji?"

"I'll just have whatever you're having"

"Alright" she couldn't help but smile, it was the first time he'd said anything to her for a while. As soon as Tenten was gone Hinata then walked over Neji's car and stood next to him.

"Is there a problem Hinata?" he asked

"I'm not sure Neji is there?" she looked up at him "You two haven't spoken in a while, don't you think it's time to fix things?"

"I really don't want to talk about this Hinata"

"I know you don't that's why I'm the one talking so just listen for now. We both know that you care for each other but if you guys don't fix this, one of you is going to end up regretting it."

"Tenten will be fine" he broke eye contact and looked away

"I wasn't talking about her Neji." He looked at her with confusion

"Everyone can see it clear as day that Tenten is upset but I can see that it goes both ways. I know you better than you think Neji and I know you're better at hiding it than she is" she put a hand on his shoulder "The same way I don't like seeing her upset; I don't like seeing you like this either." She put her other hand on his shoulder "I do really care about you Neji and I want to see you happy, we are cousins after all" she smiled at him

When was she able to read him like this? But he couldn't help but smile at her; he knew everything she said was true.

"I know you do…" he sighed before carrying on "Thanks Hinata" then he did the unexpected and hugged her for a short time and she hugged back before they separated. They both turned to the side and saw Tenten on her way back with the food. Hinata went back to her car but not before winking at him.

"Alright Hinata here's your food and Neji since you're having that means you get a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of orange juice" she handed everything over to him before taking a seat in the car and eating her food.

They ate their food in silence but it was a comfortable silence as though things were staring to improve ever so slowly. An hour later everyone returned to the car and set off on the road again. Tenten took out her cellphone and began texting Ino.

" **So how are things going with you and Neji?"** Ino texted

" **We're somewhat talking to each other but any mention of that night and he shuts down completely"**

" **At least you guys are talking again"**

" **I guess but I really want to tell him what happened that night because it's not what he thinks"**

" **You'll get your chance, I know you will"** Ino replied with a smiling emoticon

It was 08:42 when the group finally reached the Hyuuga beach house. It really had taken over four and a half hours to get there. Neji and Hinata opened the large garage doors and parked their cars inside before turning off their engines.

"This isn't a beach house it's a beach castle, this place is huge!" Naruto exclaimed

The gang unloaded their luggage and followed Neji as he unlocked the door to the house and walked in first, the others following closely behind. Their eyes were greeted with luxuries of the wealthy. The floors were tiled with white marble and the walls were a cream white colour. There was a large crystal chandelier in the centre of the room; there was a double winding staircase on each side of the room leading upstairs and the windows were full length providing a magnificent view of the ocean.

"Mind explaining where everything is" Tenten couldn't stop staring at everything

"There are ten bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. All the bedrooms are upstairs, as well as four bathrooms; the two and a half are downstairs. The kitchen is to the right and the living room and study room are to the left. Most of the bedrooms have balconies." Neji explained

As soon as everyone got the general idea of the house they all went upstairs to a bedroom of their choosing. Tenten walked into her room: it had a balcony with two chairs facing the ocean; the room itself was an off white colour and had a queen size bed with a white duvet and navy pillows as well as a joined bathroom which contained a large white marble bath, champagne tiled floors and a shower with frosted glass—talk about five star living.

She put her suitcase at the base of the bed and lay down on the soft mattress with a smile on her face.

"Do you like the room?" Tenten sat up as soon as she heard his voice, Neji was standing at her door with his arms folded

"It's beautiful" she stood up and watched him walk inside and stop in front of her. Tenten looked up into his eyes before speaking. "You know we haven't spoken in a while…not since _that—_

He interrupted her with a passionate kiss and immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Tenten—completely lost in the moment—wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her hands in his hair. They broke apart a few moments later and all she could do was look up at him with confusion.

"Why did you…" she asked but deep down she knew the answer and she was not at all pleased. After all they'd been through his thoughts hadn't changed, she felt a certain pain inside her chest and pushed him away. He didn't try and fight her for he knew that she'd figured it out, she knew without having him tell her. After looking at her one last time he left her bedroom.

Xxx

The girls were all sitting in the living room listening to Tenten's experience with Neji that morning.

"The nerve of that Hyuuga, how dare he just come into my room and kiss me like that." Unfortunately she didn't sound as angry as she wanted

"So in other words, you really enjoyed the kiss" Ino apparently hit a bull's eye because Tenten blushed as soon as she finished speaking

"So he came in and kissed you just like that?" Sakura asked

"Well not really, we were talking first then I brought up the night of our _date_ and he kissed me mid- sentence"

"Oh I get, he's still not too comfortable about talking about the night you stood him up—and he's a Hyuuga."

"I didn't stand him up, he just thinks I did and everytime I try to explain what happened he thinks I'm going to say I don't have feelings for him and that's why I stood him up."

"I think by not showing up you hurt his pride, I mean he's tie for first place with Sasuke for the most desired guy in school. He could get a date without even uttering a single word, then he gets a date with his best friend and she doesn't show up, it's got to hurt."

"Oh boo-who so I hurt his pride, that doesn't give him the right to act the way he's been acting"

"I'm sure you've heard this before but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway, you guys need to talk and soon."

"How am I supposed to do that if he keeps dodging the situation?"

"No offence Tenten but you've been too soft with him, if he won't sit down and talk about it then you have be a little more forceful and demand that he hears you out. But that can wait until tomorrow; right now I say we hit the beach."

The girls got changed and headed outside to take advantage of the great weather. Ino wore an aquamarine bikini, Sakura wore a canary yellow one piece with cut outs on either side, Tenten wore a navy nautical patterned bikini and Hinata wore a white bikini one-piece. Tenten went straight into the water while Ino decided to catch a tan, Sakura was still testing the water and Hinata decided to hang back with Ino. Tenten—being as sly as always—managed to wet Sakura when she wasn't looking; causing her to chase Tenten into the water, going on about how she was going to destroy her. Tenten was enjoying herself though; after a while Sakura managed to calm down and helped Tenten get Ino and Hinata into the water. After ten minutes the girls were all in the water splashing each other and chasing each other; clearly having a great time. But it was short lived when Ino saw a figure standing on top of the hill above where they were floating—it was Naruto.

"Cannon Ball!" he yelled at the top of his lungs before jumping off and plummeting to the water below him. Ino and Sakura managed to swim out of the way just in time to avoid Naruto's giant splash.

And next thing you know all the guys were on the beach with the girls. Neji and Shikamaru—being boring as ever stayed on the beach while Naruto—as was mentioned earlier—was already in the water while Sasuke was surfing—with incredible talent. Sakura watched as he maneuvered his way across the waves and managed to stay ahead of the wave as it curled over, he looked so focused and like he was enjoying himself. He did a flip over the waves then surfed in front of Sakura.

"You looked pretty good out there"

"Do you want to try?" he held out his hand to her

"No ways, I can't surf."

"Don't worry I'll help you; just get on." He helped her up on to his surfboard and took them back to the shore. As soon as they were on the sand Sasuke started giving Sakura some tips.

"Surfing is quite simple, it's all about balance. Your body should be as fluid as the waves you ride; all while keeping balance on your surfboard." He stood right behind her with his chest against her back and put his arms on her hips—making Sakura blush big time "The best way for you to navigate your board is to keep your knees slightly bent, if you stay standing upright you're that much easier to knock off your board. Got it?"

"Um, I think so" she replied with the blush still on her face

"Think you can handle it on the water?"

"It's worth a try" she took his board and went into the water. She stroked her way deeper into the water and caught a wave on her first attempt. She stood up and maneuvered the surfboard like a professional; she then surfed through a wave as it curled over creating a tunnel. She waved out to Sasuke before doing 360 degree turn on the board and dove into the water. He watched her with shock at first then ended up smirking—so that's how she wanted to play it.

She swam back to shore and handed back his surf board with a smug look on her face.

"So how was that?"

"You did that on purpose didn't you?" he smirked at her

"Yes I did"

"You never told me you could surf" he put his arms around her waist

"You never asked and I didn't finish my sentence; I was going to say that I can't surf as well as I used to" she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him

Xxx

It was late afternoon; the gang was relaxing on the beach when Ino had idea.

"Hey guys why don't we play a game of beach volleyball"

"Sounds interesting, what are the stakes?" Tenten peered at Ino from the top of her sunglasses

"How about, the losing team has to cook dinner and do the dishes" She suggested

"You're on, so who's on which team?"

"You, Neji, Naruto and Hinata on one team and Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru and me on the other team."

"Let's do it" Tenten stood up and headed to the net—that was set up earlier that day—followed by the others.

The two teams stood on their opposite sides of the net; Ino's side was serving first—she had the ball in her hands for a few seconds then without warning she threw it into the air and slapped to the other side. It came right in Tenten's direction; she leaped up and hit it forward for Naruto jump for but Sasuke jumped up as well hoping to hit it before Naruto could but that wasn't the case—Naruto hit it just before Sasuke and it landed on the beach on his side—one point for Naruto's team.

Ino's team didn't stay down for too long though—Shikamaru passed the ball to Ino who passed it forward to Sakura who hit the ball onto the other teams' side, scoring themselves a point.

The game had been going on for a while; first team to fifteen points would win the match. Both teams were tired but still determined to play—both sides had fourteen points, Neji's serve. He hit the ball over to the other side, Sasuke hit the ball up and it ascended literally between both sides. Naruto looked back at Tenten and she nodded in confirmation and began running towards him. He had his hands intertwined and ready for her; he caught her foot and launched her upwards in pursuit of the ball. The same tactic had been used by the other team as Sasuke launched Sakura into the air. The two girls looked at each other for a split second before turning their attention back to the ball. They were both the same distance above the ground but Tenten managed to hit the ball over the net before Sakura could—securing victory for her team. Tenten landed on her feet right after the ball hit the other side; her team won fifteen to fourteen.

"That was a close match but we won Ino." She high-fived her

"Yeah good job, but I'll beat you next time"

They all headed back to the house together to get ready for dinner. The sun was setting over the horizon while the group settled in the living room.

"So what's for dinner tonight?" Hinata asked

"I think you guys should go all out and make tiny pizzas" Tenten suggested

"Sounds great, I love pizza" Naruto commented

"Fine but I think it would be easier if the work was split up; two people make the pizzas and two people do the dishes—

"I call making the pizzas with Sasuke" Sakura interrupted

"Hey you can't call that; I wasn't done speaking yet!" Ino yelled

"Too bad I said it first so you're stuck doing the dishes" she stuck her tongue out

Tenten rolled her eyes at her arguing friends then went upstairs to her room. She took off her swimsuit and went to take a shower.

A few minutes later Neji knocked at her door but there was no response; so he decided to walk in. He walked past the side table by her bed and picked up the photo frame she kept. It was the photo frame he gave her on Valentine's Day. He sighed and walked out on to her balcony to clear his head—lost in thought about Tenten.

"Neji?" she walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body

"Tenten I didn't realise you were…" he trailed off

"Well since you're already here; did you need me for something?" she walked over to the closet

"No it's alright; it wasn't important" he looked at her for a moment before heading to the door and leaving.

Tenten got dressed in her royal purple pyjama top with the number '10'on the front in black and her black shorts then headed downstairs to her friends.

The group ate their dinner in the living room and helped clear the table before relaxing in their own parts of the house. Ino and Shikamaru finished the dishes and joined their friends as they relaxed and talked. Later everyone went to bed around the same time.

Tenten laid awake in her bed thinking about when Neji came into her room earlier that night. He seemed quite bothered by whatever he wanted to tell her; why would he just dismiss it as nothing? She had to talk to him tomorrow; it was finally time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Arguments, Confessions and Relationships**

Tenten woke up early and stretched before making her bed. She left her room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Apparently she wasn't the only one awake at that hour for she found Neji boiling the kettle.

"Morning Neji" she greeted warmly with a smile

"Good morning Tenten"

She took out a mug from the cabinet and waited for the kettle to finish boiling so she could have a cup of tea. It was now or never.

"Neji can I talk to you?" she got serious

"Of course"

"Outside; it's quite long overdue" she walked around the counter and headed to the front door with Neji following behind her. Their ears were greeted with the sounds of waves crashing against the shore which grew louder with every step they took closer to the beach. Tenten finally stopped and took a seat on the sand; Neji followed suit.

"So what did you want to talk about?" he looked at her

"You know what I want to talk about; that night back at school but everytime I bring it up you change the subject"

"Because it's a topic I don't want to talk about"

"Well what about me; does my opinion not count anymore; you think you understa—

—I understand fine— he snapped

—Will you let me speak dammit!?" she yelled at him "I'm going to tell you what happened and you are going to listen" she took a deep breath and calmed herself down before explaining "First of all I didn't stand you up, _your_ little bastard fangirls locked me in my room and took your cellphone—which I managed to get back by the way" his eyes widened slightly upon hearing the news; he'd thought wrong completely

"If that's the case then why didn't you say so?"

"Are you kidding me? I tried to tell you the minute I saw you but you kept cutting me off which I am sick of!"

"I just needed time to think"

"If that's your excuse then why didn't you try talking to me the next day or the day after instead of giving me this silent treatment for three weeks?!" Tenten couldn't hold back her frustrations anymore

"I didn't want to hear you tell me that you don't have feelings for me!" Neji himself was getting angry

"Don't have feelings for—is that it; is that what you thought I was going to say!' she yelled back with the same amount of force he did. The crashing waves had nothing on the volume Neji and Tenten were yelling at each other with. She straddled his waist—too angry to care how he'd react

"Well sorry to disappoint you Neji but I do have feelings for you" he looked surprised for a second then returned to his serious demeanour so she carried on speaking "Do you think I didn't show up on purpose for some implicit way of telling you that I have no feelings for you?" he couldn't look her in the eyes anymore

"Neji I would never do that; you know that…right?" he still didn't look at her and remained silent "If I didn't have feelings for you I would have told you the truth to your face straight from the beginning, I wouldn't lead you on; you know I wouldn't…or do you even know me at all?" she felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.

"Neji Hyuuga you look me in the eyes right now and tell me that you know I would never do that to you" she made him look at her and all he could see was pain in her eyes "Say something" her voice was starting to break from her getting emotional. Neji remained as silent as he was.

"Unbelievable" she stood up and headed back to the house. As soon as she walked inside she saw Sasuke in the kitchen making a cup of coffee. She glanced at him for the briefest moment with her tearful eyes before carrying on up the stairs. He watched her walk up then decided to take out another cup—he was going to need it.

Tenten was sitting in one of the chairs on the balcony; hugging her knees and looking out to the ocean. She heard someone open her door and walk in but she didn't bother turning around for she already knew who it was. He walked out onto the balcony and handed her a cup of tea.

"Thanks Sasuke" she took the cup and began sipping her tea. Neither of them made eye contact with each other; they just stared out to the ocean; drinking their hot beverages in complete silence but it was a comfortable silence. Tenten was just glad he was there with her. After a few minutes of silence Tenten finally spoke up.

"I thought we were friends, him and me but he's made it quite clear that he doesn't trust me" she never tore her gaze away from the ocean. Sasuke wasn't there to talk he was there to listen.

"We've been friends for years and now because of one misunderstanding, we've stopped talking to each other. I just don't know what to do anymore" just when she finished speaking _he_ walked into her room. Tenten and Sasuke stood and turned to look at him

"I need to talk to you Tenten"

"I'm not so sure she wants to talk to you Hyuuga" Sasuke spoke first

"I'm sorry was I talking to you or Tenten?"

"Listen here—

"Sasuke…it's okay, he's right, we need to talk" she put her hand on his shoulder when she spoke to him. He looked at her one last time before walking to the door but not before casting a glare at Neji which he returned with just as much intensity.

"The nerve of that Uchiha"

"He was just protecting me; you know something _friends_ do for each other" she emphasised "So what did you want to tell me?"

"I'm sorry—

"It's going to take a lot more than sorry to fix this Neji"

"I know it will, I read the situation wrong and was too arrogant to apologise for it which ended up hurting you in the process. But it was never my intention to hurt you"

"You could've fooled me; I mean you're pretty good at it. First you shut me out for three weeks and then you tell me or rather you don't tell me that you trust me"

"I didn't come here to argue with you again Tenten" she sighed and sat next to him on the bed

"I know I'm sorry…it's just…" she wiped away her tears

"Tenten I trust you, with my life if I need to"

"You have no idea how much what you said hurt me; you and I have been friends for years and I don't want that to change because of a little misunderstanding" she repositioned herself so she straddled his waist and looked him in the eyes "I care about you Neji, I really really do and I just don't want to lose you…you're too important to me" she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly and he immediately hugged back

"You'll never lose me" he whispered

They stayed in each other's embrace for a few minutes until they finally separated. Neji wiped away her remaining tears with his hand then cupped her face, she smiled at him—that same smile she only ever showed him. He then brought his lips to hers in a long chaste kiss. They separated after a while.

Naruto was on his way downstairs when he walked past Tenten's room and heard laughing coming from inside. Curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to check out what was going on. He walked in to find Neji sitting on Tenten's bed with her sitting in his lap—straddling his waist to be more precise—with her arms around his neck and his hands resting on her thighs. He immediately regretted walking in.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked while eyeing them suspiciously

"Not at all Naruto, we're just talking" Tenten answered

"I'm sure you are" he spoke slowly while rubbing his chin then looking at them one last time before walking out the door. He went downstairs to join the others who were relaxing in the living room

"What's the matter with you Naruto?" Sakura asked as she turned the page of the magazine she was reading

"It's Neji and Tenten" he answered as he plopped down on the couch next to Hinata

"What about them?"

"Well when I walked in on them they said they were just talking but the way they were sitting said otherwise. They looked just about ready to get serious"

"I can't say I'm surprised they've been up there for what, like two hours now, I'm sure they've had all kinds of fun" Ino spoke up seated on the couch across from Naruto

With Neji and Tenten

"Is it me or did Naruto look extremely suspicious when he walked in here?" Tenten asked still seated in Neji's lap

"I can't say I blame him"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you telling me that _this_ doesn't look suspicious?" he referred to the way they were positioned

"No, I mean we weren't doing anything" she looked at him questioningly

"But he doesn't know that, just think about it, we've been up here for about two hours now and he walks in finding us as we are now. It's not difficult to figure out what he thought we were doing"

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" she smirked at him knowing he wouldn't answer her; he just looked at her with a raised brow.

They decided to head downstairs and join their friends. And they both knew what was coming their way when they walked in.

"Hey guys did you fun?" Ino was the first to speak

"Save it Ino we weren't doing anything upstairs other than talking. The only other thing we did was kiss—it was a chaste kiss" Tenten cut Ino off before she could suggest anything less innocent then sat down on an empty couch

"Maybe this time" Ino said quietly earning her a glare from both Neji and Tenten

"Why is it that even though all of us are dating, you guys find the need to _only_ talk about Neji and me?"

"Because you two have a lot more drama, I mean you two have been friends for as long as anyone can remember; everyone— except you two—can see that there's chemistry between you but you guys are all like 'Oh no were just friends and were going to stay friends' and now look at you." Ino explained

"Yeah we even placed bets on you guys on when you would crack, by the way Ino you owe me, I said they'd kiss after they talked about what happened back at school" Sakura held out her hand

"You guys were listening to our argument?" Tenten raised her eyebrow in question

"How could we not, you were louder than the ocean" Sasuke spoke up for the first time

"Yeah you guys woke me up; it was such a drag being woken up so early" Shikamaru complained

The group spent the rest of the afternoon in the living room; relaxing and chatting into the early evening. Tenten was in the kitchen making dinner for everyone when Sasuke came in and joined her.

"What's on the menu for tonight?" he asked as he stood behind her and looked into the pots

"I'm making chicken Stir-fry" she stirred the meat then turned off the stove "You want to taste before anyone else?" she poked a piece of meat with a fork and held it up for him to taste

"It tastes great" he managed to steal another piece and eat it before she could stop him

"Hey, save some for everyone else Sasuke, the foods almost done." She playfully poked him in the chest

"So everything worked out between you two?" he asked getting a bit more serious

"Yeah, we finally talked and let everything out" she turned off the spaghetti pot then sat on the counter in front of Sasuke, now she was on eye level with him.

"Thanks for sticking up for me…in both situations" It didn't take him long to figure out which two times she was talking about. The first was obviously in the bedroom with Neji and the second…

"So in the car on our way here you weren't…

"No I wasn't completely asleep. I caught some of that conversation between you two" she looked him in those onyx eyes of his that she at times found herself drawn into and this time was no different in fact she was literally drawn in for she felt herself leaning in and he did the same. But they both stopped at the same time—when their faces were a little too close to be acceptable and they drew back.

"Whoa that was close, maybe a little too close" she looked away from him

"Yeah you're right"

They put what happened behind them and dished up the food together. Everyone sat at the table and ate dinner.

"Hey I've got an idea" Ino spoke up

"Does it involve anything wild?" Tenten asked before taking a sip of her drink

"No, why do you always think that? I was going to say that— if were all up for—we should have a stay awake here downstairs" she suggested

"Sounds interesting" sakura said

"I bet I'll stay awake longer than any of you!" Naruto exclaimed

"You'll probably be the first one to fall asleep" Sasuke commented which caused laughter around the table

Everyone agreed to Ino's idea and cleared the table. They then settled in the living room after rearranging the furniture to make sure they could all fit together. Each of them had a pillow and a blanket for the evening and they were in their pyjamas.

"Alright first order of business—truth or dare"

"Fine but one rule, no kissing other peoples partners" Sakura said

"That's okay, I can still make this game interesting" she smiled to herself

"Alright then who's first?" Tenten asked


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Good Times and Bad Times**

"Okay Ino, since you volunteered to go first—truth or dare?" Hinata said

"Dare" she said fearlessly

"I dare you to dunk your head in a bucket of ice water for ten seconds" sakura dared her

"Oh come on its cold enough because of the rain, now you want me to do that!" she complained

"Hey you asked for it" Tenten teased

"Alright fine" she gave in

She completed her dare but not without sending a loud scream through the house after she took her head out of the freezing water.

"I h-hate you g-guys" she shivered as she sat down next to Shikamaru

"We love you two Ino" said sakura

"Alright Tenten truth or dare?"

"Hm…dare" she finally answered

"I dare you to stay in your underwear for the rest of the night" Ino said with a sly grin on her face. Tenten rolled her eyes at them then went upstairs to get undressed—Ino never said anything about changing in front of the guys.

A few seconds later she returned in a white lace bra and black underwear as well as a knee length white gown. She took her seat next to Neji. Ino looked at the both of them; they looked pretty comfortable next to each other. Tenten saw Ino staring and understood her confused expression.

"It's not like we've never been in the situation before where I'm in my underwear; so it's not as bad as it was last time" she explained

Their game of truth or dare continued well into the night as it was 22:22 when they finished playing so they decided to change things up.

"I say we tell scary stories now" sakura suggested

"Sounds great, who'll start us off?" Naruto asked

"I have a story and it actually involves this house. About ten years ago a young newly married couple bought this house. Two years later they had son but he was quite an unusual boy—he never talked and the most distinctive and strangest thing about him was that he never blinked—ever. His parents had taken him to multiple doctors to found out what was wrong with him but none of them could come up with an answer. So they resumed their lives as normally as they could; they spent time with their son and tried to talk to him to no avail. Then one day—

"Okay this story is getting a little too creepy for me—I think I could use some hot chocolate—anyone else—no, oh well I'll be in the kitchen" Naruto quickly stood up and bolted to the kitchen to avoid listening to anymore of the story

"What a child" Sasuke commented

"What happened next Hinata?" Tenten asked clearly interested in the story

"One day during the couples' wedding anniversary they'd put their son to bed by playing a music box for him—it played his favourite nursery song— then they had a romantic dinner in the living room. An hour or so later they were about to get serious as they were making out on the couch—and suddenly the lights went out. The man went to check what happened to the power and when he got the power box he found an axe smashed into it—someone had cut off their electricity. When he reported this to the police they never found out who did it since this house had no neighbours.

When he went back inside his wife wasn't where he'd left her. He assumed that she'd gone to check on their son so he went upstairs to his room but when he arrived he found his wife dead on the floor in a pool of blood and their son was sitting upright in his bed with his eyes closed—the first time they'd ever been closed. The man –completely shocked and horrified— called the police again but when they got there the entire house was empty—the boy and his parents were nowhere to be found. All they found was a small music box in his crib, playing a children's nursery song.

To this day nobody knows what happened to that family and everytime it was investigated by police, the officers would say they heard music coming from upstairs—sounding like a children's nursery song. And it just so happens that tonight is their anniversary" just as Hinata concluded her story the lights went out startling everyone. The hairs on the back of Tenten's neck stood on end and she held on to Neji's hand.

"Why'd the lights go out?" Sakura asked panic in her voice. Clearly the story had gotten to her. A few seconds later the group heard a music box, playing a nursery song. Ino and Sakura screamed at the same time and that's when the music stopped.

Naruto walked back into the room laughing extremely loudly—he was barely able to contain himself

"It worked; you guys should have seen your faces. The plan worked flawlessly Hinata." He managed to say in between laughs as he sat down and put his arm around her.

"What are you talking about Naruto, what plan?" Tenten asked still a little scared

"Hinata and I planned this"

"And what about the lights going out?" Ino asked

"That was me, that's why I left earlier. I pretended to be afraid and left the room to time the lights to go out at the end of Hinata's story" he slyly grinned—not that anyone could see it since they were sitting in the dark

"Sheesh Hinata you've become a lot more devious ever since you started dating Naruto. First you two set up the whole Valentine's day thing and now this" Shikamaru spoke up

"So when are the lights coming back on?" Sasuke asked

"They should come on any second now" as he finished his sentence the lights came back on, then immediately turned off again

"Alright Naruto you got us now stop playing with the lights" Sasuke got annoyed

"That wasn't me" he said starting to get nervous "Hinata that story you told wasn't true was it?" he was starting to get afraid

"No not at all, I made it up" she cleared it up

"The power must have tripped, I'll go check" Neji stood up

"I'll go too" Tenten stood up and left with him

"No guys don't go; it might be a real ghost or something!" Naruto panicked but they were already out of the room

As soon as Neji and Tenten got to the power grid Neji noticed something strange about it

"What on earth?"

"What's the matter Neji?" she asked and walked towards him

"All the switches are facing up, everything should still be on" he looked closely at each switch

"That's strange" suddenly she heard a whisper from behind her

"Neji did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I could've sworn I heard…never mind it was probably nothing" her heart began racing in her chest. She wanted nothing more than to get the lights back on and get out of there. The pair suddenly felt a chill and jumped as they heard something crash to the ground. Tenten walked over and retrieved the fallen item. It was a photo frame with a photo of Neji and Hinata as kids. The glass covering the picture was now cracked.

"How did this frame fall off the table if it was nowhere near the edge and there's nothing in here to make it fall?" she was officially scared

"I don't know but don't panic, let's just get the lights back on and get out of here" as if on cue the lights came back on. After deciding that what just happened was too strange Neji and Tenten decided not to talk about it.

They then headed back to the group and took their seats. After Naruto and Hinata's little trick they decided to forget about the idea of telling scary stories and went back to their game of truth or dare but this time due to everyone's fatigue and disregard for the rules—this round of the game was a lot different to how they played earlier.

"Alright Hinata I dare you to seduce Naruto" Ino dared her

Hinata looked hesitant at first but then she changed completely into a different person. She slowly straddled Naruto's waist and winked at him which threw him off guard. She then slowly slid his gown off of his shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her lips barely brushed the surface of lips before she pulled away and sat back in her normal position. Naruto exhaled heavily after she pulled away—things got a little steamy for him.

"Man Hinata it's actually kind of scary how good you are at that" Ino commented "Who would have thought, the innocent and shy Hinata was a natural at seduction"

"Okay Tenten truth or dare?"

"Dare" she answered but immediately regretted it when she saw the gleam in Ino's eyes

"I thought you'd never ask. I dare you to make out with Neji"

"Wouldn't you rather make me do something else?" she asked

"Don't you want to kiss your boyfriend?" she smirked

"Oh it's not that I definitely want to kiss him just not on your schedule. But a dare is a dare" she straddled his waist and looked at his smirking face before she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her and intensified the kiss. It was hot and passionate—she'd only made out with him in her dreams but this was better than any dream. His soft lips against hers felt great. He was an amazing kisser and his hands went from her waist to rest on her thighs. A few moments later they separated and she sat back in her place with a triumphant look on her face.

"Satisfied Ino?" she smirked

"Obviously not as much as you, but yes"

"Sasuke truth or dare?"

"Truth, I'm too tired to do anything" he had a good point as it was already 01:31 in the morning

"Okay…" she thought of a question "How many times have you had thoughts of you and Sakura in bed together _before_ you two started dating?"

"Too many times to count" he simply answered which surprised everyone

"And now?" Sakura asked growing curious herself

"About twice as much" he smirked at her making her blush

By 02:30 Neji and Tenten were the only ones still awake. She was lying in his lap while they were talking.

"I'm not tired yet, what about you?" she looked up at him

"I am starting to get tired. All of that kissing took a lot out of me" Tenten just rolled her eyes at him

"How are you tired when I was the one doing all of the kissing?" she raised an eyebrow at him then he suddenly leaned down and kissed her for a few seconds then pulled away. She just looked up at him with a blush on her cheeks. He smirked at her then laid down with his arms folded behind his head. She sighed with a smile on her face before she spoke up

"You're really something else Neji Hyuuga" she sat up and saw that he had fallen asleep. She couldn't help but smile as she looked at his relaxed face and watched his chest rise and fall. She moved a little closer to him and kissed him on the forehead before lying down next to him.

"Maybe it's a good thing you're not awake right now. You've heard me say some of these things and some things you haven't. We've been friends for how long now and I never would have imagined that we'd end up together. There are so many things that I like about you; the way you look at me, the way you talk to me—even when you're flirting, the way you always make me laugh—even when it's not intentional, the way you say my name and most of all the way you smile at me. You rarely ever smile and when you do it's really amazing. I could literally talk about how great you are for hours. I can't emphasise enough how important you are to me; you really brighten up my life. You know me better than anyone else—the true me and you've never asked me to change anything about myself. You even have this unwavering trust in me and most of the time you see the positives in me that I myself struggle to see. And I think I can safely say that I…love you" she turned to her side with the biggest smile on her face and fell asleep

11:46 a.m.

Tenten woke up and squinted her eyes as the mid-morning sun blinded her as it intensified the brightness of the white carpet they were all asleep on. She looked behind her to see Neji was still asleep with his arm around her waist. She slowly broke away from him to go to the kitchen; but on her way there she saw the rest of her friends had slept quite closely next to each other.

They'd all pretty much ended up the same way she had with Neji. She was in the kitchen with a plate of croissants and making a cup of tea when Sasuke walked in, helping himself to one of her croissants. She just gave him a sarcastic look.

"Well good morning to you too Sasuke; yes you may have one of _my_ croissants" she just smiled at him when he gave her a blank look "So how'd you sleep?" she sat on the counter waiting for the kettle to finish boiling.

"Well enough, I guess"

"I could tell by the way you were holding Sakura" she smirked at him

"Like I was the only one of us who slept like that"

"Yeah well I didn't wrap my arms around him; I woke up with his arms around me"

"Whatever you say Tenten" he helped himself to another croissant

"Hey stop eating my breakfast!" she yanked her plate away from him

About half an hour later everyone was awake and eating their breakfast—except Sasuke and Tenten because they already ate—outside on the patio.

"We should start packing this evening and set out early in the morning just like when we came here" Hinata spoke

"What! Has it already been two weeks already?" Naruto exclaimed

"Unfortunately yes, today's Monday and school starts on Wednesday, so we need to head back" said Sakura before she took a sip of her orange juice

Xxx

It was late evening when Ino was packing her clothes into her suitcase; someone knocked at her door.

"Come in" she yelled as she continued packing her mountains of clothes away "Oh hey Shikamaru, done packing already?"

"Yeah I just finished" he took a seat on the edge of her bed. He watched her while she packed and noticed something "You're still wearing the earrings I gave you"

"Of course I am, they were a really great gift and I love them. Did you expect me to just leave them in the box forever?" she turned around and faced him

"Did you ever think it would up like this? Us together?" he asked

"No I really didn't; I mean being around you was so natural; only up until recently did I start noticing that I had feelings for you that were much deeper than friendship." She walked over and sat next to him on the bed "And I realised that they've been there for quite a while but I only noticed them when the whole Valentine's Day thing happened"

"I'm in the same boat as you. I always just thought that we'd stay friends for the rest of our lives but I'm really happy with how things turned out now" he placed his hand on top of hers

The next morning arrived and the gang began their drive back to school. They would begin the new term with newly formed bonds.

The gang arrived back at school at 13:00 and went to their rooms. Hinata unlocked the door to their room and walked inside.

"Well we're back" Tenten said as put her stuff down by her bed "It feels like we've been gone forever, I'm going to go take a walk." She headed to the door and left

Tenten took a walk around the school grounds for about an hour before taking a break under a large shady tree. She rested her back against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes; easing herself into relaxation. She enjoyed the breeze that swept past her and found herself drifting off; leaning in one direction and with no one to catch her, she would surely hit the ground—but that wasn't the case.

As soon as she leaned too far someone caught her and she ended up leaning on their shoulder. She quickly looked up to find Neji Hyuuga sitting next to her.

"Neji, when did you get here?" she spoke with her eyes closed

"Just now. You're really tired"

"Yeah, I didn't realise until I started dozing off just now. If it weren't for you I would have fallen asleep on the ground" she chuckled

"Well you can rest easy now" but she hadn't heard his last words as she had already fallen asleep

Xxx

The sun was going down when Tenten opened her eyes. She was still under the tree and Neji was still sitting next to her.

"Whoa, how long was I out for?"

"About five hours"

"And you're still here?" she sat up and looked at him

"It's not like I could just stand up and leave"

"Oh right" she looked away "Well thanks, how did you know I was outside anyway?"

"Let's just call it a coincidence" he smirked at her

"And you just happened to be at the exact spot I was at. Boy that's some coincidence" she raised an eyebrow at him

"We'd better head back inside" he stood up and helped Tenten up

Just as they were about to leave Tenten pulled Neji towards her and kissed him for a few seconds them separated

"What was that for?" he looked at her with confusion

"No reason" she smiled up at him and began walking back

Xxx

Tenten was on her way to her room when she crossed paths with Naoya—she still hadn't forgotten Naoya's little stunt to keep her away from Neji. She had half a mind to fight her right then and there in that corridor

"Naoya, to what do I owe this displeasure?" she unkindly stated

"Still a little upset about how your first date turned out I see" she smirked; Tenten clenched her fist and walked closer to her—close enough so she could talk normally

"I have half a mind to take you down right now but I'm not going to do that. I just want to say one thing; you have no idea what your little stunt caused. You almost cost me my best friend and if you ever do anything like that ever again I will make you regret it"

"Say whatever you want Tenten, because this is just the beginning. You don't deserve him and I'll make him see it too" she spat, Tenten countered with a smirk

"I actually ought to thank you; because of what you did, Neji and I are actually together" she looked at Naoya with a smug face.

"What are you talking about?"

"You heard me, we're dating" she looked at her one last time before heading to her room but not before getting a death glare from Naoya which she returned with just as much hate.

Tenten walked into her room and went straight to her bed to lie down. The rest of the girls were relaxing—namely Hinata and Ino and as for Sakura—according to Ino—she was spending the evening with Sasuke. The group of girls had dinner then turned in early to be prepared for school the next day.

Wednesday morning arrived too early for the girls as they prepared themselves and headed downstairs to the cafeteria for breakfast. A few minutes later they were joined by the guys before heading to class together.

Xxx

The girls were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria eating their lunch.

"I can't believe it's only three weeks away. I can't wait for the school dance" Ino practically yelled

"What, you can't wait to show off your boyfriend" sakura smirked at her

"Well yes that too but I also can't wait to get that perfect dress. We need to plan a trip to the mall and get ourselves some showstoppers."

"You're right Ino" Hinata spoke up

The rest of their school day carried on pretty uneventfully—a few tests here, some homework there and assignments everywhere. Neji and Tenten were at the library together doing some research on an assignment they had for class but they'd decided to take a break on the library's balcony.

"Ino's really looking forward to the dance and now she's planning to take us girls out shopping to find the perfect dress. I've got to say that I'm quite excited to surprise you" she took a chip out of the packet and popped it into her mouth

"If it's anything like the other surprise I got regarding your clothing—or lack thereof—then I'm excited as well" he smirked making her blush

"You did not just say that" she playfully pushed him "Well we better get back to our assignment"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Dresses and Set Backs**

The girls left in Ino's carand arrived at the mall by 09:00 in the morning, ready to spend the entire day at the mall looking for the right dress to wear to the school dance. Their first stop was a boutique filled with elegant dresses. The girls walked in and began browsing around.

"Ooh look at this dress, its stunning." Ino held out a crimson strapless dress in front of her.

"This one looks great too" Hinata held out a one shoulder black A-line dress

"I think it's a little too formal for a school dance" Tenten commented

"I like it, all it needs is the perfect pair of shoes" Sakura held up a pair of silver heels

They tried on a few dresses then moved on to the next shop but not without buying a few. It was better for them to have a few options to choose from.

Xxx

The girls had splintered off in their own directions of the mall. Tenten was on the top floor at a small shop that had very few people inside although she got some unwanted attention from one of the cashiers. As she strolled around the store he never took his eyes off her—he always watched her with a smirk on her face. She picked out a silver knee length sweetheart cut dress and went to try it on in the changing rooms. As soon as she stepped out he came to talk to her. He had short uneven black hair and piercing bright green eyes. He was quite handsome—she supposed.

"Excuse me miss but do you need help with anything?" Tenten wasn't oblivious to the way he suggested it. She could hear him flirting with her but she wasn't interested in the slightest and didn't entertain him.

"No thanks I'm fine" she was about to walk back into the changing room when he grabbed her wrist.

"Are you sure, I mean that dress looks pretty tight I could help you out of it" he took a step closer to her.

"That won't be necessary, now get away from her" Neji icily commented from behind him. The cashier turned around to face Neji.

"And just who the hell are you tell me to back off"

"He's my boyfriend" Tenten walked past him and stood next to Neji "Now kindly leave us or you'll have to find yourself a new job" he gave them one last look before walking away

"Alright now you're starting to scare me; this is the second time you've found me without me telling you where I was" she raised an eyebrow at him "Even though it was unnecessary thanks for the save"

"Unnecessary; if I hadn't arrived who know what he would've done to you?"

"Oh please; you think I can't handle amateurs like him. He wasn't a threat at all" she turned around and back to the changing room "Now let me get out of this dress so we can get out of here"

"I'll help you out of it"

"Neji Hyuuga don't you even dare" she walked in and closed the door then locked it

"Locking the door?"

"Clearly I can't trust you to not walk in here while I'm dressing" she finished dressing and walked out then she left the shop with Neji.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked

He answered her question by holding up a shopping bag from a suit store—an expensive suit store. Her eyes widened slightly when she remembered the popular shop for the wealthy.

"Don't the price tags on the cheapest suits end with three zero's. I see you spared no expense"

The two of them walked around the mall for a while until they met up with the rest of the girls. Tenten said goodbye to Neji then headed to one final shop with the girls as they still hadn't found their dresses yet. Each of them picked out a dress and went to try it on in the dressing room.

"We look amazing, these are definitely our dresses" Ino squealed as she looked at herself and her friends in their dresses. They bought their dresses and headed to the food court for lunch.

"…And then he grabbed my wrist and _offered_ to help me out of my dress" Tenten explained her story

"What a jerk; so what happened next?" Sakura asked

"Then Neji stepped in and I threatened to get him fired" she took a sip from her ice tea

"Talk about perfect timing" said Ino

The girls finished up their shopping and drove back to school. They walked into their room with two bags on each arm.

The next day in gym class Neji and Tenten were sparring in the boxing ring—Guy Sensei had given them the hour off because he needed to take care of some business but he still ordered them to do some form of exercise. They stood on opposite sides of the ring then they ran at each other. Tenten leaped in the air and tried to kick Neji but he ducked and tried to sweep kick her leg as it touched the ground but she countered by back flipping out of the way.

Neji had been giving her fighting lessons for a few months and she was really improving—if she did say so herself. Next he was on the offensive as he tried to punch her but she caught his wrist and was about to punch him but he caught her wrist. They were deadlocked—each had the others wrist but Neji managed to break free of her grip and while he was still holding on to hers ; he pulled her into him and unbalanced her feet making her fall backwards, he managed to pin her on her back. They were both breathing heavily. He smirked at her annoyance.

"Don't look so upset Tenten, you're improving" he held out his hand to help her up

"Yeah yeah, but I'll get you next time" she eventually cracked a smile before taking his hand and standing up

After a few minutes of resting they got back into their fighting positions and came at each other again. This time Tenten slid through his legs and stood up behind him and tried to kick him but he caught her foot then released her; he turned around and tried to kick her as well but she dodged it. He came at her with a dozen punches but she managed to dodge all of them; she did a front flip to get as close to him as possible then delivered a final kick to his leg—an extremely hard kick.

Neji fell to the ground holding on to his injured leg.

"Oh no Neji!"

Xxx

"Wow Tenten what did he do for you to have hurt him like this?" Sakura teased as she wrapped a bandage around his leg

"It was an accident; we were sparring in Gym class and I came at him really fast then I kicked him"

"Well Neji your leg is going to hurt for a while so it looks like you're stuck in here for the next week and a half." Said Sakura then she looked at Tenten who slightly lowered her head and Sakura understood why. The timing couldn't be any worse.

Sakura and Tenten were on their way back to their room when Tenten spoke up.

"A week and a half but the dance is only a week away, cant he just for that one night—

"Absolutely not, if he puts pressure on his leg before it's completely healed he'll make it even worse. I'm sorry Tenten"

"Hey guys what's the problem?" Hinata caught up to them

"Neji has an injured leg that won't be healed in time for the dance" Tenten explained as they all walked into their room.

"And after all that time we spent looking the perfect dress and shoes and everything. I was really looking forward to spending the night with him at the dance. It was going to be our first time going as a couple" she sat down on her bed

The next day Tenten decided to visit Neji during her free period when she—unfortunately—found Naoya coming from the direction she was going in. Naoya glanced at Tenten so she stopped to confront her.

"And just where do you think you're going Tenten?"

"Like it's any of your business" said Tenten

"Well I just got back from visiting Neji; I was comforting him, I mean being hurt by his girlfriend must've been terrible for him. He'll come around Tenten just you wait, he'll leave you in the dirt and choose me" Tenten just rolled her eyes and tried to fight the urge to laugh in her face

"Who the hell do you think you're trying to seduce? Neji isn't a fool who would fall for some tramp in a mini-skirt and showing a lot of cleavage. He enjoys the finer things in life" she said referring to herself then she carried on walking until she reached the infirmary. She walked in to find him reading a book

"Wow, hello Mr. Popular" she walked in with a smirk on her face as she saw the room had gift bags and 'get well soon' cards pretty much everywhere—courtesy of his _many_ fangirls.

"I just came to see how you're doing but clearly you're being taken care of" she couldn't stop smiling even though he was glaring at her "Okay okay I'll stop" she sat next him on the edge of his bed "But seriously how's your leg?"

"It still hurts a little" he replied then he smirked at her making her look at him with confusion "So I only enjoy the finer things in life do I?" he put his book down and looked her in the eyes

"You heard that?" she blushed

"You'd be surprised how well the sound carries in the hallway" he then folded his arms "I never knew you had that side to you Tenten" he was clearly amused but Tenten didn't seem to notice as she was too preoccupied with going through the gift bags.

"Hey don't get it confused with your arrogance. I'm only like that when I need to be; you're arrogant pretty much all the time" she playfully poked him in the chest then resumed looking through some of the gift bags and took some of the chocolate.

"Are you finished going through _my_ gift bags?"

"Hey you and I both know you don't particularly like chocolate, so I'm helping myself" she opened the chocolate and took a bite "You do realise they'll keep coming right? You have a lot of fangirls and they'll just keep sending gifts up here"

"You don't have to jealous Tenten" he smirked

"Me jealous? I have no reason to be"

"Oh yeah and what makes you so sure?"

"Didn't you hear me out there? You're not a fool Neji, I know you wouldn't fall anything stupid" she leaned in and kissed him for a few seconds before breaking away

"But I do know what you would fall for" she smiled at him

"Oh yeah and what's that?"

"Kissing me" she smiled

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me"

"I think your idea is a little flawed" he raised an eyebrow at her

"Oh so you're telling me that if I came in here everyday and leaned in like this and hovered my lips above yours, you wouldn't eventually lean in and kiss me" he remained quiet for a moment "That's what I thought Neji" she glanced down at her watch

"Free period is almost over; I need to go, see you later" she kissed him once more before heading to the door and leaving for class

An hour or so later Sakura walked in, it was an hour before school ended. She had a roll of bandages in her hand.

"It's time to change your bandages" she walked over to his bed and untied and unwrapped the old ones from his leg. There was a large bruise on his leg that she began wrapping in the new bandages.

"Do you know where Tenten is now?" he asked

"Yeah she's in English class with Sasuke" she answered while concentrating on bandaging his leg. A long pause filled the room for a moment before Neji spoke up

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course" she finished then took a seat in the chair next to his bed

"You are aware that she spends some time with him right?"

"I know they've been friends for a few years, yes, why do you ask?" Neji remained quiet for a moment "Are you worried about her spending so much time with him?" another pause

"Well I don't think you should be; they've made it very clear that they're just friends. If they wanted to try something they would have done so by now but look she's with you. And when she's with me, Ino and Hinata upstairs she always talks about you, she's crazy about you" when she finished speaking he looked away

"Hey don't look so down Neji; you trust her right?"

"Of course"

"Asking a question doesn't mean that you don't, I mean he's tied for first place as the most desired guy in school so what you're thinking is understandable. But she's only interested in the guy tied with him and that's you Neji." She smiled at him "It's almost time for class, I'll see you later Neji" she picked up her bag and headed to the door

"Sakura" he called making her turn around and look at him. He just looked into her eyes for a few seconds. She smiled when she understood what he was trying to say.

"Don't worry I won't tell her" she then walked out the door and left

 **Chapter 9: Conclusion**

The day of the dance finally arrived and there seemed to be a wave of excitement throughout the school. All the girls were talking and showing each other pictures of their dresses and asking for opinions. And the guys—not as excited—but still looking forward to the evening were doing the only thing they knew how. They were bragging about which girl they were taking to the dance—from the captain of the cheerleading team to the captain of the drama club.

It was probably the most unproductive school day as none of the students were focusing—at least not on school anyway.

At the end of the school day the corridors were empty in five minutes as well as the school parking lot as most of the students went to town for last minute preparations and girls to get their hair done. Tenten and her friends would have done the same thing but they didn't need to because of Ino. She had as much skill with a curling iron as any professional hair stylist did. Ino got ready first so she could help the girls with their hair and make-up.

Ino had her hair done in a single long braid that sat over her left shoulder. She had on mascara and a plum purple lipstick. Her dress was a silver backless halter dress that was mermaid cut to accentuate her curves.

Hinata had her hair done in a French braid and had a nude lipstick. Her dress was a thick strapped mauve dress which was A-line and chiffon.

Sakura had her hair done in a classic bun and had colourless lip-gloss on. Her dress was a teal coloured strapless pipe dress with a mid-thigh slit on the right side.

The three of them looked amazing by the time they were done. They were dressed and ready—all except for Tenten.

"Aren't you going to ready Tenten?" Sakura asked

"I'm just going to spend the night with Neji"

"Oh okay, that reminds me I need to change his bandages" she quickly left the room and went downstairs to the infirmary. She walked in and to his bedroom.

"It's that time once again and it's better I do it now and not later" she began unwrapping and then wrapping his leg.

"Tenten said she'd come down later and I think I've got an idea as to what she's going to do so I'm going to do you a favour even though I shouldn't" she finished

"So what's the favour?" he asked and watched as she walked to the door and turned the handle

"Don't hurt your leg" he got the message immediately and smiled at her as she winked at him and walked out the door

Back in the girls' room

"Well it's half past six, the dance will start any minute now, we should get the guys and head down" said Ino as she did a last minute make-up check in the mirror

"Before you go Ino, could you help me with my hair, I want to do something special for Neji" she looked at her with a small smile on her face

"Of course, you two go ahead I'll meet you at the dance once I'm done here" Hinata and Sakura said their goodbyes then went to meet Naruto and Sasuke by the Gym for the dance.

They met Naruto and Sasuke at the entrance of the Gym. They both looked incredibly dapper in their suits. Naruto wore a navy suit and a white shirt with the first two buttons undone; showing off his necklace. And Sasuke wore a black suit with a white shirt and a black skinny tie.

"Wow you two look great" said Sakura as she walked up to Sasuke and hooked her arm around his

"Not as great as you two" came Naruto as he took Hinata's hand and guided her inside "Shall we?" the four of them walked in together and were greeted by the loud music and exquisite decorations. The theme for the dance was an 'Enchanted Forest' so there was a lot of green and blue along with fake vines growing over the tables and a fog machine used to create the mist on the floor.

Upstairs with Ino and Tenten

"There you go, all done. Your hair looks great and now for your make-up" said Ino as she retrieved her mascara from her bag.

"I'm really glad things worked between you two. You really like him don't you?" Ino asked as she did the finishing touches on Tenten's make-up

"Words can't describe how much I do. I just feel so amazing when I'm around him" she couldn't help but smile

"Well then go show him a night to remember" she helped Tenten up then gave her a hug "Aren't you going to put your dress on?"

"I will when I get there, I want him to be the first one to see me in it" she winked at Ino before heading out

The corridors were completely empty while Tenten made her to the infirmary. The sound of her heels echoed with every step she took. She stepped in to the room and found Neji with yet another book in front of him although he looked very debonair as he was already in his suit. He wore a black suit with a grey shirt which matched the grey braiding on his blazer and his pocket square. It was accompanied with a black skinny tie.

"Tenten aren't you going to the dance?" he acted like he didn't know what was happening

"Like I would have good time at the dance without my boyfriend there with me" she stood next to him then kissed him for a moment "But I do have a surprise, just give me a few minutes"

Neji watched her leave and walk into the bathroom but nothing would prepare him for what he was about to see. Ten minutes later Tenten walked out of the bathroom in an off the shoulders navy dress—but only from the top of the dress until the hips was navy. From the hips downwards her dress was white and mermaid cut. She had her hair curled and sitting over her right shoulder along with mascara and red lipstick.

"You're the first one to see me like this, so how do I look?" she twirled around and the flowing garment turned with her.

"You look absolutely breath-taking" and he meant every word of what he said. She almost left him speechless, she was so beautiful

"I really wanted to surprise you" she sat next to him and he put his arm around her

"You sure did a great job but it goes without saying that I think you look great in anything you wear—even your underwear" he whispered the last part of his sentence

"Hey don't get any ideas in that perverted mind of yours" she chuckled at him

"Me a pervert? That's insane"

"Clearly you think I don't know you as well as I do Neji. That day I answered the door in my underwear, I knew exactly what you were thinking and those thoughts weren't exactly innocent" she smirked at him

At the dance

Sakura was at getting drinks for her and Sasuke when Naoya came up to her.

"So Sakura I guess desperation does pay off"

"Excuse me?"

"The only reason Sasuke would ever go to the dance with a nobody like you is that he felt so sorry for you that he had to say yes"

"Hate to break it to you Naoya but Sasuke is my boyfriend" Sakura smirked when she saw Naoya's eyes widen in shock

"But it doesn't make any sense I'm way prettier than you and Ino, the guys should be lining up just to stand next to me"

"Just face it; Sasuke's not interested, Neji's not interested, Shikamaru's not interested, heck not even Naruto would go for someone like you"

"Oh please I would never go for that fool Naruto"

"Like you're even in his league, and don't you dare insult my best friend like that" she took her drinks and walked away from her

"What was that about?" Sasuke asked as he took his drink from her

"Oh Naoya was just complaining about how she thinks she's better than us and how she deserves the top guys in the school"

Ino and Shikamaru were sitting at one of the tables since they were tired from dancing while Naruto and Hinata were on their way out for a walk. A slow song started and a few moments later, Sasuke held out his hand to Sakura. She smiled and took his hand and walked to the dance floor with him. She put her arms around his neck and he put his arms around her waist as they slowly danced around the room. They were in their own world; eyes locked on each other. It was sheer bliss for them both.

Naruto and Hinata were walking hand in hand; looking up into the clear evening sky with the brilliantly bright full moon pouring its light into the darkness.

"Hey Hinata I haven't seen Tenten around is she sick or something?" Naruto asked

"No she went up to the infirmary to spend the evening with Neji" she explained

"Oh I see" he said in an incredibly suggestive way

"Not like that Naruto, I'm sure they're just talking"

"I say we go find out" he took her hand and guided her in the direction of the infirmary. The stopped when they got to the balcony

"How do plan on calling her they're a floor above us"

"I don't want to interrupt so I'll be subtle" he quickly looked for a pebble to throw at the window. Once he found one he threw it and the pebble hit the correct window almost cracking it in the process

"That wasn't subtle at all Naruto"

With Neji and Tenten…

"What was that?" Tenten asked and walked to the balcony to see the pebble on the ground then she looked below her and saw Naruto and Hinata looking up at her

"Naruto you idiot, did you throw this? You could have broken the window!" she yelled down at him

"Oh Tenten I didn't think you'd be dressed since you're up there alone with Neji and—"

Hinata elbowed him in the arm "I just told you they wouldn't do that Naruto"

The gears turned in Tenten's head as she tried to figure out what they meant by _that_. Then realisation finally dawned on her.

"Wait you thought that Neji and I were…" she immediately blushed and she was completely unaware that Neji was standing at the door to the balcony. "You know I'm seriously considering jumping off of this balcony to kill you Naruto" she clenched her fist then calmed down

"Anyways how's the dance going and why are you two outside?" she leaned on the rails

"The dance is great but we just decided to take a walk and then check on you two to find out if you were _doing anything_ " Naruto grinned slyly, Tenten just rolled her eyes at him

"Well I don't want spoil you're evening so Hinata please take your boyfriend and enjoy the rest of your night" she watched them walk away then looked up into the sky; gazing at the full moon.

"It's a beautiful moon tonight"

"Yeah it is…" for some reason it took her while to realise that Neji was standing next to her "Neji what are you doing out of bed? Sakura said you're not aloud up on your feet until your leg is completely healed"

"Actually what she said was that I shouldn't hurt my leg so as long as I don't put too much pressure on it I can move about"

"Wow she did you a favour, that's so unlike her"

"Actually she did you a favour; she knew you were coming here and that you'd miss the dance so she wanted to make sure you'd still have a great evening"

"Neji I'd have a great time with you even if you were bed ridden. Being with you is enough to make me smile"

"And what about if I did this…" he put his arms around her waist and she relaxed into his chest with her eyes closed

"That feels amazing" she then turned around and looked up at him while putting her arms around his neck. She embraced him for a while then broke the hug to talk to him

"You know this was quite a year but I don't think I'd change a single thing about it because I ended up having you by my side" she leaned in and kissed him then rewrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer to deepen the kiss.

The setting was perfect; the moon was full and shining on them as they shared their intimate moment. A gentle breeze swept past them; the wind let Tenten's dress run through its fingers like liquid. They were alone and totally lost in their world. After a few minutes they separated but they kept their arms around each other and looked up to the sky together. Their evening was a picture perfect—almost as though their lives were a story.


End file.
